Alphabet Soup
by ilajkajas2215
Summary: Basically, a collection of one-shots from throughout an established H/P relationship. One for every letter of the alphabet--hence the title .
1. A is for Absence

_A/N: Okay, so I should probably explain the concept of this story. Hotch and Emily are together (obviously) and basically, for every letter of the alphabet, I'm going to write a snapshot of their life together. They won't be in chronological order, so I'll clarify at the beginning of each chapter when it's taking place. For the sake of the story, Jack was born November 2005 and they've been together since June 2010 and they moved in together in May 2011._

_Some other background: Hotch and Emily got together about six months after Haley died (yes, in this universe, Haley did die =[ ) and Jack lives with Hotch full time. The Bureau knows about their relationship but let them stay together on the same team (and yeah, I know that it would never happen like that in reality, but that's why this is fiction), but with the understanding that when they're on the job, they're completely professional._

_Timeline: This chapter takes place in March 2012, so they've been together for nearly two years and living together for nearly a year._

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_**Chapter One**_

_**A is for Absence**_

"When is Emmy coming home?" Jack whined to his father.

"She's on her way from the airport, Jack," Hotch told his son for the millionth time. Not that he minded Jack's excitement. It never ceased to amaze him that the bond between his girlfriend and his son was so strong.

"Well can I call her?" Jack asked impatiently.

"She should be here in less than ten minutes, she called when she landed, remember?" Hotch reminded the 7-year-old.

Emily had been in California at an FBI training conference for the last ten days and both of the Hotchner men were missing her immensely.

"Can't I call her anyway?"

"No buddy. She'll be here soon enough. Why don't you go pick out a movie to watch after we eat dinner?" Hotch suggested to distract the anxious boy.

Jack went off into the living room and Hotch took the moments of silence to put the finishing touches on the meal that he and Jack had prepared.

He heard the key scrape against the metal of the lock followed by the opening of the front door.

"EMILY!" Jack bellowed and as Hotch stepped into the hallway, the small boy sprinted past him toward the dark haired woman who had just stepped inside the apartment.

"Hi sweetie," Emily greeted the boy. She dropped the handle of her suitcase and hoisted the boy into her arms, allowing him to hug her tightly around the neck.

Hotch took her suitcase for her and shut the door so that Emily could carry Jack into the other room. He set the alarm and joined them in the living room.

"Are you hungry Emmy?" Jack asked, his excitement reaching a new peak now that Emily was actually back.

"Famished. I didn't have time to get anything for lunch before I left for the airport," she admitted.

"Jack, why don't you go wash your hands so we can eat?" Hotch prompted.

Normally he loved having his son around—especially when Emily was around. He always felt happier having his whole family in the same room. In this case though, he just really wanted a moment to properly greet the beautiful woman who was sitting on the couch in front of him. Jack had, of course, seen them interact affectionately in the nearly two years that they'd been together, but they always tried to shield him from their more intimate and "adult" displays.

Jack went scurrying off through the apartment.

Immediately, like magnets, Hotch and Emily flew together. His left hand slipped under her sweater just slightly, stroking the small of her back while her hands tangled in his short black hair.

They said nothing before Hotch pressed his lips to hers. He was, again, struck by how soft and perfect her lips were. Even after two years, he still felt an undeniable jolt in his stomach when she was in his arms. He'd missed the feeling during her ten-day absence. Sure, they'd talked on the phone at least two or three times a day, but it was definitely not the same.

They pulled apart after only a minute, not knowing when Jack would reenter the room.

"Hey," he smiled, his forehead against hers.

"Hi," she grinned back.

"I missed you," Hotch informed her.

She smirked. "Huh…well I didn't really miss you, but it's nice to be back I suppose."

"You wound me," he rolled his dark eyes at her and pretended to take a step away.

Emily tugged him back towards her and kissed him. "I missed you too, you big goon."

He was about to respond in kind when Jack came running back into the room. "DINNER!"

"All right, Buddy, its dinnertime, calm down," Hotch laughed at the childish exuberance.

Hotch left his arm around Emily's shoulder as the three of them proceeded toward the closed dining room door.

He gave a tiny nod to Jack, who grinned and pushed the door open.

"What is this!?" Emily exclaimed, turning to look at Hotch, her eyes wide and bright.

Hotch and Jack had put forth their greatest efforts to make dinner special. There were candles lit and roses in the middle of the table. The nice china was out and there was a bottle of red wine sitting next to Hotch's seat at the head of the table with a smaller bottle of grape juice next to Jack's place. A heavenly smell was wafting towards Emily and her mouth immediately began to water.

"We wanted to do something to show you how much we missed you!" Jack crowed.

"You guys are amazing…I missed you too, you know," Emily hugged Jack tight and squeezed Hotch's hand.

"We made your favorite. Manicotti with Daddy's homemade sauce, garlic bread on bread that we made this morning and a salad with extra cucumbers. And Daddy says that that's your favorite wine," Jack reported.

"I don't even know what to say. I love you so much sweetheart," Emily kissed Jack on the cheek and he giggled.

"Love you too Emmy," Jack grinned.

Emily stood back to her full height and turned to be face to face with Hotch. "You, silly man, are one of a kind. Thank you."

She traced his soft cheek with her fingertips, loving the feel of his skin, before she leaned in and kissed him gently.

"Can't we eat?" Jack complained.

Emily and Hotch pulled apart chuckling and grinned at each other before joining Jack at the table.

)))

Hotch shut off the TV and smiled down at the two people lying on the couch next to him.

When they'd started watching Shrek, they'd all been sitting upright, Emily leaning against Hotch and Jack leaning against Emily. Now, Emily was sprawled out, her head on Hotch's left thigh as he ran his fingers through her hair.

Jack was lying cuddled up to her side, his head pillowed on her chest and one arm wrapped tightly around her middle and she was holding him just as tightly with both arms.

He remembered the first time he'd seen them sleeping this way. He'd been at a late meeting and Jack had had a nightmare, so Emily had comforted him and they'd been in this exact position when he'd gotten home.

That had been only a few months after they'd started seeing each other. Nearly two years ago. It seemed like lifetimes ago and like it was yesterday at the same time.

"Em," Hotch said gently. As much as he loved seeing them like this, both she and Jack would sleep better in their own beds.

"Em," he said again, "Em, wake up."

"Hmm?" she popped one eye open and looked at him blearily.

"We should put Jack to bed, sweetheart," he told her.

"Okay…I didn't even realize that I feel asleep."

Emily carefully sat up. She cradled Jack against her chest and lifted him into her arms with the ease of someone who had done it a million times.

"I'll take him," Hotch offered.

"No, Emmy," Jack murmured sleepily.

"I've got him," Emily's lips quirked.

Emily carried him to his room and set him on his bed. She was extra thankful that they'd insisted he'd put on his pajamas before they settled in to watch the movie.

"I'm glad you're home," Jack told her. His voice was rough with sleep.

"Me too, sweetheart," Emily agreed.

"Daddy is too. He's not as happy when you're not home. He's a lot quieter," Jack confided.

Emily's heart swelled.

"Well that's good, because I'm happier when I'm home too."

"Good, I love you Emmy," Jack murmured, half asleep.

"I love you too Jackster. More than you know," Emily whispered and kissed the sleeping boy's forehead softly.

"He down?" Hotch asked when Emily joined him in their bedroom.

"Yes sir," Emily nodded and headed straight for him, a glint in her eye.

)))

"You and Jack did a fantastic job with dinner," Emily told Hotch, her head resting on his bare chest. She placed an appreciative kiss right over his heart.

"Like Jack said, we wanted to do something special to show you how much we missed you and how much we love you," Hotch said, stroking her soft dark brown hair.

"You definitely succeeded. You big softie," Emily grinned.

"Good," he ignored her second comment. "How was California?"

"It was…nice. You know, lots of sun and beaches and attractive people," Emily shrugged.

"Attractive people, huh?"

"Oh yeah. Tons of really hot, really jacked guys wearing almost no clothes and trying to get in my pants," she said seriously, trying not to laugh.

"Well, it's official, I have to kill every man in Los Angeles," Hotch heaved a sigh.

She grinned and kissed him.

"You know, it's not just something that you say. I really did miss you. Every single minute that you were gone," Hotch told her when they broke apart.

"I know Aaron. I did too…I don't like going away for so long. Or at all for that matter."

"Love you, Em."

"Love you too."

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_A/N: Okay...so this wasn't beta-ed because I don't have a beta, so if there are any errors, in grammar or story continuity, or whatever else, let me know (I attempted to edit it, but it's hard for me to edit my own stuff because I know what I__want it to say, so I tend to skip over errors)._

_Let me know what you think/if I should continue this/if you have any ideas for upcoming letters!_


	2. B is for Blisters

_A/N: Okay, so here's the second installment of this story. Enjoy and let me know what you think! Also, I decided to put the months/years in the timeline so that it's more obvious when the chapters fall in relation to each other. For the sake of a starting point, we'll say that Jack was born November 2005 and Aaron and Emily have been together since June 2010.  
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_Timeline: July 2011 (they've been together for a little over a year)  
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_**Chapter Two**_

_**B is for Blisters**_

--+--

"He better be appreciative. Goddamn shoes. Worst blisters ever," Emily grumbled to herself. She, JJ, and Penelope were walking across the foyer of a hotel to meet the men of the team at a fancy FBI dinner; so all three were dressed to the nines.

"What was that?" JJ asked, looking amused by her friend.

"I _said_, Hotch better be really freakin' happy that we're here and that I'm wearing these god damned shoes. It's his damn fault that I already have blisters. 'No Em, don't worry about wearing sneakers to the park, your sandals are fine.' I'm gonna freakin' kill him," Emily ranted.

"Now," she continued, apparently just getting on a roll, "Now, he has to get a stupid award and I have to wear these stupid shoes. Like that's gonna help with my stupid blisters. Stupid man."

"Come on Em, shouldn't you be happy that your boyfriend is getting an award?" Penelope asked.

"No. Because tonight he's not my boyfriend. This is a Bureau event, which means that tonight, he isn't my boyfriend, he's my boss," Emily reminded them.

JJ and Penelope shared a look; they both suspected that Emily had just revealed the real reason for her less than cheerful demeanor.

"Plus, you know that I hate the word boyfriend. Hotch is old. Much too old to be a _boyfriend_," Emily pointed out.

"Right, sorry, nix the boyfriend word," Penelope nodded, not wanting to poke the angry bear.

"So Hotch is your…_man_ _friend_?" JJ asked, trying really hard not to smile.

"Yes. He's my man friend," Emily agreed, finally cracking a small smile.

These words were spoken just as they joined the other members of their team at their assigned table. Everyone was there, except for Hotch who, as a recipient of one of the awards was required to sit at a special table with the other recipients.

"Wait a sec…did you just say that you have a _man friend_?" Morgan asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes, Emily abhors the word boyfriend," Penelope told the handsome man next to her.

"And why does she abhor the word boyfriend?" Morgan wanted to know.

"Because, Hotch is too old," Emily explained.

"Wow. Thanks Em."

Emily turned and saw Hotch standing behind her with an amused look on his face. Like Dave, Reid, and Morgan, he was wearing a tuxedo for the black tie affair and, of course, looked fantastic in the formal wear.

"It's true," Emily shrugged, trying to control her reaction to him looking like James Bond.

Hotch rolled her eyes and sat down at the table with them. He patted Emily's knee beneath the table, but that was the extent of their physical contact, which didn't really improve Emily's mood. She wasn't one for public displays of affection, but she would have at least liked to hold his hand or something. He stayed and chatted with them until dinner was announced and he had to return to his special table.

After dinner and the award ceremony and a few speeches, dancing commenced.

"May I have the pleasure of this dance, Mama?" Morgan asked Penelope.

"Of course, gorgeous," she agreed readily and accepted his hand as they headed for the dance floor.

"JJ, would you like to dance?" Reid asked next.

"Sure, thanks Spence," JJ smiled back.

Henry had come down with a fever during the afternoon, so instead of leaving him with a sitter, Will had stayed behind with their son and JJ was there stag.

Emily offered Dave a sympathetic smile (she and Hotch both knew of the man's underlying feelings for the blonde in question) just before Hotch's voice came from behind her again.

"Emily, want to dance with an old man?"

"I'd love too. I won't be held accountable for any broken hips though," she quirked her lips and accepted his proffered hand.

As they walked together, he took in her appearance. Her burgundy dress was complemented by gold jewelry, including a pair of earrings he'd bought her for the previous Christmas. The dress itself was simple but accented her figure perfectly and he couldn't wait to feel the silky material beneath his fingers.

"I'm not sure I got a chance to tell you how lovely you look tonight," he commented as they joined the other dancing pairs. In his opinion, she was the most gorgeous creature in the room…well, anywhere they went actually. He pulled her just closer than decorum should have allowed but not near as close as either of them would have preferred.

"Thank you, you don't look too bad yourself," she grinned.

"For an old guy, you mean?" he teased.

"Well of course," she laughed, finally feeling a little bit better, now that she was with him.

"I love when you wear your heels this tall. I like being eye to eye with you," he admitted.

"I know, which is why I hate you," Emily sighed.

"You hate me, huh?" he raised a thick black eyebrow at her.

"Mmmhhmmm," she nodded seriously.

"And what can I do to make it better, my dear?" he asked, pulling her just slightly closer to his body, his intentions obvious.

She smiled lightly and leaned in to press her lips to his.

After only the shortest of kisses—she'd been kissed by her grandmother for longer—he pulled away. "Not here Em."

"Excuse my forwardness, _Agent Hotchner_," Emily said and put the original distance and then some back between them.

"Emily, what's wrong?" Hotch asked. He could tell that something was bothering her before dinner, but he had just chalked it up to a random bad mood—no one was happy _all the time_. He dropped her right hand from his left, which he brought to meet its partner at the small of her back, making the dance slightly more personal.

"Nothing's wrong, Hotch," she shrugged, her use of his "office name" biting him.

"Em…come on, it's me," he told her soothingly, his voice low and intimate.

She sighed and relaxed slightly in his arms.

"I just hate these things. I like dressing up and everything, but then I get here and realize that dressing up is stupid because I don't even get to sit at the same stupid table as you while we eat. I get that during work hours, we're Agents Hotchner and Prentiss first, and I obviously respect that, but it's Saturday! I want to be Emily and Aaron. This is our Emily and Aaron time—which, by the way, we don't get enough of, even without stupid Bureau events.

"Plus, I have blisters, which may sound dumb, but it's your fault that I have the blisters and it's because of you that they're getting worse, because I'm wearing these stupid shoes because I know how much you like them, but it doesn't even matter if you like them because tonight we're Agent Hotchner and Agent Prentiss. But you know what? Emily wanted to wear these shoes for Aaron because she loves him and she wants him to appreciate how much she wants to make him happy," Emily ranted. She'd had no intention of saying all of that, but once she got started, she couldn't seem to control her stream-of-conscious thoughts from spilling out.

She probably shouldn't have been surprised at her own candidness, she had issues keeping her emotions from him, especially when he asked her point blank like that.

He stared at her, his brown eyes meeting hers and holding them. "Em…you _always_ make me happy. I love you and I hate that we have to be professional, but you know, Agent Hotchner loves Agent Prentiss, just like Aaron loves Emily. We only have to stay for another hour or so and then I promise we'll finish out the weekend with Aaron/Emily time. Jack's with Jessica until Monday after school, don't forget.

"And sweetheart? I'm sorry about the blisters, I _always_ appreciate when you do things like wear heels even when your feet hurt, just because you know I like it," Hotch told her sincerely, his fingers stroking her back surreptitiously.

He didn't think it would be prudent to point out that it was actually _her_ idea to wear the sandals; she said they were prettier and would be comfortable enough for a "relaxing" afternoon at the park. As if _any_ trip to the park was relaxing with a six year old.

"I just…I like being pretty for you," Emily sighed. She wasn't sure where exactly her melancholy mood had started, but his words had definitely helped. He always knew what to say to her.

"You _always_ look pretty. You look fantastic tonight, I honestly love your dress, your shoes, your hair, but I think you're just as beautiful when you're wearing sweats and a t-shirt that you stole from me while you watch TV, curled up on the couch with Jack," he stroked her cheek gently.

"Stole? I thought that moving in together and exchanging I love you's like candy meant that what's yours is mine and what's mine is yours and all that crap?" Emily teased and Hotch was just thankful that her bad mood had subsided.

"So you wouldn't mind if I stole one of those red lacy things in the upper right hand drawer?" Hotch asked.

She laughed. "Hey, if that's really what you want…I'm not sure what that would mean for our relationship though. We may have to reevaluate."

He laughed with her and pulled her closer—decorum be damned.

Her head fell to rest on his shoulder and she was glad that he'd fixed her.

"I'm sorry I was being a brat," she whispered in his ear, her hot breath on the lobe making him shiver.

"We all have those days. And I'm sorry that we missed our usual Saturday night, but I'm glad you came, it was nice to have you here," he told her.

"Of course…I love being there for my man friend…even when we have to be somewhat professional," she laughed.

He rolled his eyes but chuckled as well.

"Oh and I fully expect you to rub ointment on my blisters when we get home."

"Ew…that's gross," Hotch complained.

"Too bad, mister. Your fault."

"Those sandals were _your_ idea!"

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_A/N: So, I'm not really sure how I felt about this chapter. Emily seemed sort of off to me. I think it's because she came off as rather whiney and Emily doesn't strike me as the whiney type. But you know, sometimes we all have those days where everything gets to you and you just want want to be rather whiney...don't we? Again, this is un-betaed and I did my best to edit it, but let me know if there are any errors and I'll fix them._

_Also, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but this story is probably going to be a mixture of things. The focus is definitely going to be H/P and they'll be the center of every chapter, but aside from that, all bets are off. Most of the chapters will be fluff, but there will also be chapters touched with angst, because, as Hotch said in this chapter, no one's happy ALL the time. And like I said, this story is about Emily and Hotch, so there will be some chapters where it's just them, but others where Jack and/or the team will play a big role (the next chapter, for example, has major amounts of the team) so let me know if there's anything you'd like to see or anything you'd really like NOT to see. Thanks!!!_


	3. C is for Competition

_A/N: Okay, chapter number three is here :). Enjoy!_

_Timeline: August 2013 (Emily and Hotch have been together for 3 years now).

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_**Chapter Three**_

_**C is for Competition**_

"You've got to be kidding me! These teams are so unfair!" Derek exclaimed.

"Morgan, stop being such a baby," Emily rolled her eyes.

"I'm not being a baby! Look around, Prentiss, this is bull," he insisted.

"I feel as though we should be offended," Reid commented. "Though…logically, he's probably right. The physical prowess of the other team is very much superior to ours."

"It's true…we're gonna to get crushed," eight-year-old Jack agreed with the other two.

"See, even Jack knows it! I refuse to play unless we switch up the rosters," Derek said.

The BAU had assembled at the park for a day of relaxation after a particularly rough case. Touch football had been decided on and as it stood, the teams were Derek, Jack, Reid, Garcia, and Dave against Hotch, Emily, JJ, Will, and five-year-old Henry.

"I thought you were supposed to be a hot shot football player, Mr. Northwestern," JJ teased.

Morgan ignored her and took stock of both teams. He turned to Hotch—the assumed captain of the other squad. "I'll give you Reid and Garcia for Emily and JJ."

"No chance," Hotch shook his head. Two of the worst athletes, for Emily—who was the best, behind Hotch and Morgan, of course—and JJ who was good in her own right? No dice.

"Fine…Dave and…" Morgan hesitated for a moment.

"Reid," Hotch requested. Dave wasn't bad, just old. And Reid, while lanky and clumsy was above Garcia, who didn't really like to get dirty and only played so that the teams would be even with five to a side.

"Garcia," Morgan bartered.

Hotch thought for a moment and then shrugged a shoulder. "Fine."

"Why do I suddenly feel like cattle?" Emily complained as she and JJ switched sides with Dave and Penelope.

"What's cattle?" Henry wanted to know.

"Cows, Peaches," Garcia answered.

"Why does Emily feel like cows?" he asked, clearly confused.

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart," she comforted him, running her hand through her godson's dirty blonde hair.

"All right, lets get going," Hotch urged his team and they all gathered around him in a huddle formation.

The teams ended up being fairly evenly matched. It came down to the last play of the afternoon.

Everyone was getting hungry and the score was tied, so it had been agreed upon that the next score would win.

"All right, come on team, we can do this," Morgan pumped up his squad. They had the ball and were close to the makeshift goal line.

"Okay, so, um, I think I have a plan," Reid spoke up. To this point, he hadn't really been an asset, but he hadn't been a liability either, so he was hoping to help secure the win, even if it was just with an idea.

"All right, kid, lets hear it," Morgan agreed.

"Okay, so, Hotch is their greatest asset, right? He would claim that there is no preferential treatment, but he's always a little more hesitant when it comes to Emily that he's guarding," Reid prefaced.

"No he isn't!" Emily protested.

"Sorry, Em, it's true. He doesn't want to hurt you and he knows how you get when you lose," JJ grinned. "So what's the plan, Spence?"

"Right, well, we should fake to you, JJ. You go up the right side, between Will and Rossi. I'll go up the middle and Jack, you distract Henry in the middle too. That will leave Dave to cover me since I'm the weakest receiver. Emily, you go left, toward Hotch. Morgan, if you drop back and fake a hand off to Jack and a pass to JJ, giving Emily enough time to slip behind Hotch, then we should be able to score," Reid explained.

"All right, everyone got it?" Morgan asked.

Everyone nodded and with that, they broke the huddle and lined up.

"Hi honey," Hotch offered Emily a huge smile as he lined up right across from her.

She rolled her eyes at him and responded sarcastically. "Hello darling."

"You know what I'd rather be doing right now?" his voice low and deep. "Something definitely not appropriate for a public park and the presence of our family…"

She ignored his diversionary tactics and listened for Morgan's count.

"Ready…Go!" he shouted.

It all went according to plan. Jack ran up the middle with Henry on his heels, Reid was covered by Dave in the middle and JJ by Will on the right. Emily slipped behind Hotch—who was distracted by Jack and JJ, both of whom Morgan faked to.

It all went exactly according to plan…except for one thing. Reid had uncharacteristically not counted on one factor. Garcia.

She was wandering around, looking lost when Derek released the ball.

Hotch figured out what they were doing just in time to make a leap for the ball.

It bounced off of his fingertips and right into the un-expecting arms of none other than Penelope Garcia.

She looked up, shocked.

"RUN!" Henry screeched.

"Go Garcia!" Dave shouted as well.

Garcia took off, but Emily was hot on her heels, less than four feet behind and gaining.

Hotch did the only thing he could think of to stop Emily from getting to Garcia. He lunged.

)))

"Touch football, Aaron. _Touch_, NOT tackle," Emily complained, an ice pack pressed against her shoulder blade as they all sat spread out on two blankets around the picnic basket.

"Well I couldn't let you catch her!" Hotch defended himself.

"It shouldn't count! We should automatically win because Hotch took out Emily illegally. It's completely unfair," Morgan whined.

"Yeah Dad, you definitely cheated," Jack pouted.

"We said next score wins and we scored first. We win," Will jumped to his teammate's defense.

"I'm the one that's going to have a bruise tomorrow. I should win," Emily shook her head in disagreement with Will.

"You'll be fine, Emily," Henry said.

Everyone immediately laughed at his astute assessment.

"Oh, come here Em, I'll kiss it better," Hotch offered, extending his hand to her. Emily huffed, but took his hand.

"Whoa, whoa, I like you guys together and everything, you know that, but the only way to get to that shoulder is to take her shirt off. And I think I speak for all of us when I say that I'd rather not witness that," Derek protested.

"Speak for yourself," Garcia grinned.

Hotch rolled his eyes as he settled Emily in front of him, her back against his chest, and his legs on either side of her. He leaned in and gingerly kissed the back of her shoulder blade and gave both Morgan and Garcia a look.

"That, I can live with," Derek conceded.

"I'm sorry that I tackled you," Hotch whispered in Emily's ear as everyone else got caught up in a story that Henry and Jack were telling.

"No you aren't. You won and you like winning, even if there's a little collateral damage," Emily replied in the same whispered tone.

"Well I'm sorry I hurt you, how's that?"

"That, I accept. You owe me a massage though, and a bubble bath," Emily smiled suggestively.

"The massage I can do, but a bubble bath? I definitely don't want to do that. Being wet and naked in warm water with you? I'll pass," he joked.

"Fine, I'll have to find someone else to join me then. Baths just aren't as much fun alone."

"If it's _that_ important to you, I _guess_ I could be persuaded to join you," he sighed theatrically.

She smiled and pressed her lips to his.

"I'm really sorry about hurting you, you know. I love you," he told her.

"I know," she smiled at him, her dark eyes meeting his and maintaining the contact.

"Hey!" Penelope's voice called and a grape hit Emily in the collar bone.

"What!?" Emily asked, pulling away from Hotch slightly.

"You two were so wrapped up in mooning at each other that you didn't hear your son calling your names," JJ laughed.

Hotch blushed, but Emily shrugged and settled her back against his chest again, wrapping herself securely in his strong arms, unbothered by their laughing. It had taken a long time before they were comfortable showing their relationship, but it had been over three years, hell, they were _engaged_. She had no problem with it now, especially not with the team, their _family_.

"Sorry. What is it, Sweetie?" Emily asked Jack.

"Can I stay with Henry tonight? I finished my homework yesterday, remember? I promise I'll be good and I'll clean my room when I come back," Jack asked in a rush.

"As long as JJ and Will don't mind, then I don't see why not," she agreed.

"It's fine with me. Assuming you don't mind having Henry over next weekend," JJ grinned. "It's only fair you know."

"I think we can do that," Emily nodded.

Hotch, Emily, JJ, and Will were all thankful that Henry and Jack got along so well, it made it so much easier. That way, the boys had someone to play with when the team was together and made it easier when the team had to travel because they could stay with Penelope or Will and go through the upheaval together. It also gave the adults a chance to trade kids for the weekend and get some much needed alone time occasionally.

"Now there's no way you're getting out of a bubble bath," Emily whispered to Hotch.

"I wouldn't even dream of trying to get out of it," he replied, placing a light kiss on her neck and caressing her right hip gently.

She gave him and brilliant smile that morphed into a content grin as she relaxed against his chest, closing her eyes and just listening to her friends around her.

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_A/N_: _Okay, so what did you think? I wanted to incorporate the team because I honestly think that if Hotch and Emily ever get together, the team will support it and basically be like their extended family. I like that image :) Anyway, I have yet to find a beta, so as usual, let me know of any errors you notice._

_As another little side note: I have a couple more chapters written, but I have midterms in all of my classes/labs next week and the week after that is my spring break, but I'm going to Peru for the week, so after Friday, there may be a little lull in updates. Just so you know._


	4. D is for Dessert

_A/N: Hey everyone, here's chapter 4!! Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed thus far, every single one makes me smile. You guys rock. And a special shout out to kimtom4eva who read over this for me, thanks again!_

_Timeline: Okay, this one takes place in May 2011, so they've been together for roughly 11 months, which makes Jack 6 1/2 years old.

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_**Chapter Four**_

_**D is for Dessert**_

"Em are you ready yet?" Hotch called across the apartment from his seat on the couch.

"Almost!" she called back.

"Why does Emmy take so long to get ready, Daddy?" Jack asked with his childlike frankness.

"Excellent question, buddy. I think it's because she wants to look nice and it takes her awhile to be satisfied," Hotch hypothesized.

"But Emmy _always_ looks nice," Jack commented.

"I agree. Maybe you should tell her that when she comes out," Hotch suggested.

"Okay, I will," Jack agreed. "Am I spending the night with Aunt Jess?"

"Yeah, you are. You don't mind, do you?" Hotch asked. He always felt bad leaving his son when he and Emily were in town. The boy lived in so much upheaval as it was, he always tried to keep life normal when they _were_ in town, but at the same time, every once in awhile, he liked to have some time with his girlfriend. Some one-on-one, alone, adult time, without worrying if Jack was going to come scrambling in after a nightmare.

"No, I don't care. But can we do something together, all of us, tomorrow?" Jack requested.

"Of course, we were planning on it. What would you like to do?" Hotch asked.

"Can we...go to the rocks and then watch a movie?" Jack said after a moment.

"Yeah, if that's what you want to do, then definitely," Hotch nodded.

'The Rocks' was what Jack called one area of a local park where Hotch and Emily had taken him on their first group outing, nearly a year ago. There was a little hollow in the woods that had big rocks that were fun to climb over and hide behind and jump off. Jack loved going there so Emily and Hotch tried to take him whenever they could.

"I want to," Jack nodded.

"Want to what?" Emily asked, breezing into the room, fastening on her earrings as she came.

"Go to the rocks tomorrow," Jack reported.

"Oh yeah, that'd be fun," Emily said immediately and sat down on the couch with her boys.

"Don't sit! We have to get going, we have a reservation," Hotch groaned as he saw her get comfortable.

"Fine, fine," Emily rolled her eyes and turned to Jack. "Are you sure you don't mind if Daddy and I go out, sweetie?"

"Yup, I don't care," Jack nodded.

"Good, we'll get you right after breakfast tomorrow," she kissed his soft hair.

"Okay."

"All right you two, lets go," Hotch hurried them along.

"You look really nice, Emmy," Jack told her.

"Thanks Jackster," Emily grinned.

"He's right Em, you do look nice," Hotch said appreciatively as he took in her outfit. She was dressed somewhat casually, jeans and a sweater but he loved the tightness of her jeans and the way that her deep red sweater clung in all of the right places.

"Thanks Aaron," Emily smiled and placed a kiss on his cheek. "You don't look too bad yourself."

Hotch was similarly dressed, dark jeans and a light blue oxford, making him look casually perfect.

"Emily?" Jack asked as she helped him into the SUV.

"Yeah sweetie?"

"Why do you take so long to get ready?" he wanted to know.

"If you put him up to asking that, I hate you," Emily grinned at Hotch who held up his hands in surrender. "I have absolutely nothing to do with it," he laughed.

She rolled her eyes but answered Jack as Hotch pulled out of the parking lot. "It takes time to make myself pretty."

"But Emmy, you always look pretty...you don't need to take all that time and make everyone late," Jack said.

Emily couldn't hold in her chuckle. "Thanks buddy, that's really nice of you to say. But don't worry, I didn't make anyone late. I know for a fact that Daddy lied about what time the reservation was so that he could try and trick me into being ready on time. What he doesn't know is that I'm well aware of his tricks. So like I said, don't worry, we're right on time."

"Hey, you can't blame me for wanting to be prompt," Hotch grinned and shrugged.

"Uh huh, whatever you say, Aaron," Emily grinned and rested her hand comfortably on his thigh. It was the little things, the everyday contact, that she loved most about her relationship with Hotch, it always felt natural and it made her love him even more.

)))

"What are we doing?" Emily wanted to know as Hotch pulled her toward the house in front of them. it was _their_ house. They'd bought it just a week earlier and weren't set to move in for another month.

"You'll see," he said.

"You said we were getting dessert, Aaron. If we stopped here so you could check the light fixtures—again—I will be less than happy," she warned her boyfriend.

He rolled his eyes as he unlocked the door.

Hotch grabbed her hand and together they walked in and he led her to the room that they had designated to be the living room.

"What is this?" she asked.

There was a dark blue blanket spread on the carpeted floor and there was a picnic basket resting on one corner of the blanket.

He said nothing but motioned for her to sit next to him on the blanket.

"Aaron?" she asked as he opened the basket.

"You wanted dessert, right? Dessert you shall have, pretty lady," he explained as he pulled out a plate and two crystal champagne flutes, followed by a bottle of champagne in a cooling bucket.

The plate was covered with an assortment of chocolate—Emily's favorite—desserts. Strawberries and pretzels covered in chocolate, chocolate pastries, truffles, cookies, and her favorite type of chocolate and caramel drizzled cheesecake.

"What is all of this for?" she asked, in awe.

"When we decided to move out of the apartment and into a new house, what did we say?" he answered her question with one of his own.

"That having more room inside and a backyard for Jack would be nice?"

He rolled his eyes and chuckled. Of course she remembered the practical part of the conversation.

"We said that we wanted to get a place together. That apartment was mine before you moved in with us and we wanted to continue our life together in a place that was ours," he reminded her.

"Oh! You meant the conversation _after_ you took me against the hallway wall because we couldn't wait until we got to the bed," she grinned, remembering the conversation and the preceding activities.

"Can you blame me? That thing you were doing with your tongue…" he trailed off with a shiver before he snapped out of his daze. "Anyway, do you remember the rest of the conversation?"

Emily nodded. That conversation had just reminded her how lucky she was to have a man like him. "We talked about how we wanted to get a place together and fill it with happy memories of us and Jack. Not memories of loneliness and isolation from before us."

"Exactly. So, in line with that, I wanted our first memory here to be a good one. That's why we're here tonight. If we waited, then our first real memory here would be of moving in, an, as much as that should be…_interesting_, I wanted the first one to be special."

"You're the sweetest man ever."

"Don't let that get around. I happen to like my reputation as the hard assed unit chief of the BAU," he deflected her praises.

"Seriously Aaron…this is perfect. _You_ are perfect. Thank you so much for doing this," Emily said, holding his eyes before she leaned in to kiss him.

)))

"So, you think that qualifies as a good first memory?" Emily asked, stroking Hotch's bare chest.

He'd wisely thought to bring a sleeping bag, so they were snuggled up in it, feeding each other the chocolate desserts and sipping their champagne.

"Hmmm…do I think sex on the living room floor is a better first memory than something ridiculous like Reid dropping the couch on Morgan's hand and then Morgan chasing him around, trying to beat him with a cardboard box? Yeah, I'd say this wins."

"Oh come on, Aaron, that happened when we moved Dave. What are the chances of that happening twice?" Emily laughed.

"Fair enough. Regardless, this memory is pretty damn close to unbeatable, I'd say."

"You _really_ like that tongue thing, don't you?" she teased.

"Oh yeah. You have _no_ idea," he nodded reverently.

"I'll have to keep that in mind next time I want to pick the movie."

He chuckled and stroked her back. They continued to lay there in content silence for awhile before Emily spoke again.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything, you know that," he agreed immediately.

"Okay…do you think you'll ever want more kids?" she bit her lip, not sure what she wanted his response to be.

He paused. He hadn't been expecting that to be her question.

"I don't know…I've thought about it, of course. I would love to see you pregnant and have a little baby that's part of you and part of me, but I don't know. We're not exactly young anymore and with our jobs and everything…I just don't know…"

She was silent.

"Trust me Em, I want to. I just don't know if it's the right thing to do. Plus…when Jack was born…that was the beginning of the end for me and Haley. I love my son, don't get me wrong, I'm just afraid that something similar could happen to you and me. I wouldn't recover from that," he continued.

"Honestly…I was sort of thinking the same things. I've always wanted a baby—I don't think that that's ever been a secret—but I guess I'm just not sure what it would mean for our life. For the record though…you and I aren't you and Haley," she said, trying to organize her thoughts and be coherent.

"I know that. You know me better than she ever did and I know you would never hold my job against me. So I guess they aren't really founded fears, but they're fears nonetheless. What brought this up? Do you want a baby?"

"I don't know. Like I said, I've always wanted a baby and wanted to be a mother, but it's never been the right time. Now though, with the new house being bigger and everything going well at work and with us and—like you said—with us not getting any younger, I feel like if we're going to, it has to be soon…ish," she explained.

"That's true. Why don't we table this for tonight, both of us think about it some more, and we'll revisit the topic, soon…ish," he suggested.

"Deal," she agreed.

He smiled and offered another chocolate strawberry to her, which she bit greedily.

"You know, I'm never going to be able to look at this room and not think about tonight," Emily commented.

"Me either…me either," Hotch agreed. In all honesty, he was totally fine with that. It was quite the memory to have.

* * *

_A/N: So what did you think?? Anyway, I have the next two chapters written, but I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to type them/upload them/check over them/post them this week. I have 6 midterms (one in every class I'm taking) not to mention two lab midterms and a Spanish oral proficiency exam, all before I leave for Spring Break in Peru next Friday. So it's going to be kind of hectic and the chapters may not be put up every other day like I've been trying to do, but I'll do my best! Enjoy!_

_Also, what does everyone think about the baby issue? Should they or shouldn't they? I can't seem to make up my mind on the matter, so input would be greatly appreciated :)_


	5. E is for Empty

_A/N: Howdy. Chapter 5 has arrived. It's the first first that we've seen between our two love birds. Let me know what you think! Oh and there's something important in the author's note after the chapter!  
_

_Timeline: February 2011. Em and Hotch have been together for 8 months now._

_

* * *

  
_

_**Chapter 5  
**_

_**E is for Empty**_

--+--_**  
**_

"No," Hotch shook his head.

"What do you mean '_no_'?" Emily challenged him.

"I mean, _no_. You are _not_ going into that room by yourself to talk to that man," Hotch challenged right back, getting into her personal space.

"You can't be serious, _Aaron_," she glared at him.

"Actually, I _am_, _Agent Prentiss_."

"No way. Don't you dare use the Agent Prentiss card. We both know that this is Aaron talking, not Unit Chief Hotchner. Because Hotch knows that this is the right answer," she argued.

"Are you accusing me of letting my personal feelings get in the way of my objectivity?" he asked, his eyes filled with fire.

"Yes! Because you are! You _know_ that I fit his type. With this type of profile, we know that he'll respond best to someone who falls under his typology. There's a woman's body out there, Hotch! How can you tell me that I can't go in there and do everything in my power to find her for her family? Her husband and son _deserve_ that much!" Emily fairly spat.

"Don't you _ever_ question my objectivity. I've been doing this job for way longer than you have and you have absolutely no right to challenge me. Do it again and you'll be written up for insubordination," Hotch said and spun on his heel, slamming the office door behind himself.

Emily wanted to scream. How the hell could he be so ridiculous? He _knew_ that she had to go into that room. And she had to do it alone. This UnSub was meek and quiet, used to being cast aside by male authority figures, there was no way that he would respond to her if there was another male in the room.

Hotch _knew_ all of those things. He was letting their personal relationship get in the way. She had seen in it in his eyes before they even left the briefing room at Quantico. He hated the way that the victims looked like they could be Emily's sisters, that the missing woman was almost exactly the same as Emily physically, within half an inch of height and five pounds of weight.

That didn't mean he could hold her out of this though. It was her _job_. SHE WANTED TO SCREAM.

She settled for growling to herself and crumpling a piece of paper and slamming her hand down on the table.

--+--

"So what was that about at the station?" JJ asked Emily as the two women got ready for bed that night. The team was gearing up for what they were predicting would be a prolonged interrogation of the UnSub the next day, so they all headed to bed as soon as they returned to the hotel.

"Hotch is being ridiculous," Emily sighed. She'd known that the entire team had seen the argument, but hadn't been able to hear their words, so she'd been expecting JJ's questions.

"How so?"

"He's not letting me in the room tomorrow," Emily confided.

"He's not letting you in the room?" JJ was surprised. "I thought that Reid said that this type of killer would respond best to someone who fit his type. Didn't he say that he would try to seduce you and do anything that you asked him to?"

"Yeah, Reid did say that. Because it's true. Hotch knows that but all he can see is that the victims looked just like me," Emily shook her head. She wasn't as angry anymore, just frustrated with her boss.

They'd been together for over eight months and they'd done so well with the whole keeping work and personal separate. The team hadn't even been able to tell that they were together until Emily slipped up during a briefing two months after it had all started.

Now, after all of their hard work, he was ruining it. If he couldn't maintain his objectivity, even when the victims looked like Emily, then something was going to have to change. One of them would have to transfer or…Emily didn't even want to think about the other option.

"That's not like him…we've seen cases with brunettes before and he hasn't acted irrationally," JJ pointed out.

"Yeah, well I don't think that they've ever been mutilated quite like this. Plus, Reid also pointed out that the only way to get to this guy is to send me in there alone," Emily added.

"He does realize that you'll be in a room that has a two way mirror and he'll be standing less than ten yards away, right? It's _safe_," JJ said.

"Yeah, I'm aware. Try telling him that though, he's being ridiculous," Emily shook her head, rubbing her forehead and eyes.

JJ opened her mouth but there was a knock on the door that cut off whatever she'd been about to say.

"It's him," Emily said. She always knew when it was him.

JJ nodded and took Emily's silent request and opened the hotel room door.

"JJ…may I please speak with Emily?" Emily heard his voice, ever so polite. He sounded tired.

"Yeah, sure," JJ stepped aside and he stepped into Emily's view.

He was still wearing his suit but his hair was mussed and his eyes looked tired. That along with his loosened tie and rumpled shirt told Emily that he was tired and annoyed, but she wasn't about to cut him any slack.

"Jack left a message on my phone saying good night to us. I thought you may want to hear it," he told her, avoiding eye contact.

"I'm gonna wash my face and brush my teeth," JJ excused herself into the bathroom and shut the door.

Emily watched as Hotch got the message up on his phone.

"Hi Daddy. Hi Emmy. I'm going to bed now and Aunt Jess said that you guys can't talk right now but that I could leave a message," Jack's little voice filled the room on speaker phone.

He ran through his day and Emily couldn't help but allow herself a small smile as Jack told them about how he jumped off the swings and thought he was superman like Daddy.

"Okay, well I have to go to bed now. I love you Daddy, I love you Emmy. Good night," he said and the phone clicked off.

"Thank you," Emily said quietly.

Hotch nodded but made no move to leave.

"Do you want to talk now or later?" he sighed after a few moments of awkward silence between them.

"Are you going to be rational and act like Agent Hotchner?" Emily glared, immediately slipping into defensive mode.

"I _was_ acting like Agent Hotchner all along," he insisted.

"Don't even try to say that you believe that, because we both know that's you're full of crap. The only way to crack this guy is to send me in there. You're being pigheaded to think otherwise," she argued.

"You think that you're the only one who can get to this guy? We have a whole team of the most intelligent minds on the planet and the most skilled profilers, at that. You don't need to go in there alone. What's more, you _won't _go in there alone. Don't be so arrogant as to believe you're the only one who's talented enough to do this," Hotch growled.

"Seriously? That's seriously what you think? You're the biggest ass I have ever met; I can't even fathom that you just said that to me. Get out of this room, Agent Hotchner. Agent Jareau and I would like to go to bed. And don't try to say I'm being insubordinate; both JJ and I are getting ready for bed—it's highly inappropriate for you to be in here at all," Emily snarled.

He scowled at her and turned sharply, slamming the hotel room door behind himself.

Emily didn't think it was fair that he was the one who got to make the dramatic exit, so she picked up and threw the hotel-issue ice bucket, that they hadn't had time to fill, after him and the plastic bin clattered against the wall and door before hitting the floor.

She was so angry and frustrated that she wanted to cry, but she wouldn't allow him the victory of reducing her to tears.

When JJ exited the bathroom a few minutes later, she found Emily sitting on the edge of one of the beds, with her head in her hands.

"You okay?" JJ asked, sitting down next to her.

"You heard all of that, I assume?" Emily asked, not looking up.

"Yeah…it wasn't exactly quiet," JJ admitted.

"Didn't exactly go too well, did it?" Emily forced a chuckle that sounded foreign to her own ears.

"It'll be okay," JJ comforted her friend, not sure what else to say.

"Will it? I don't know…is this even worth it?" Emily wanted to know.

"What? You and Hotch?" JJ asked.

"Yeah…he's been so good to this point. Is it always gonna be like this from now on?"

"You said yourself that he's not usually like this, even when you fit the victimology. You're not seriously going to end this great thing you have going because of one shitty experience, are you?"

"I certainly wasn't planning on it, but did you hear the things he said to me? He called me arrogant and basically said that the team didn't need me," Emily raged.

"No he didn't. He didn't say that, Em," JJ immediately corrected.

"What, so now you're on his side? That's really great, JJ, really great," Emily sprung off the bed, still tensed for a fight.

"Emily, stop, I didn't say that at all," JJ tried to defend herself to the furious woman.

"Good night," Emily said simply and climbed into the other bed, putting her back to JJ and effectively ending the conversation. As she climbed under the covers, her stomach clenched and she couldn't deny the empty feeling that settled over her at the thought that she and Aaron were in the biggest fight of their young relationship.

--+--

Emily's mood had certainly not improved by the next morning when they all rolled up to the police station.

"All right, Morgan, Reid, you're up first," Hotch told the two men as they started to outline their plan for the interrogation.

"What?" Reid asked looking up, caught off guard.

"I thought that yesterday we agreed that Emily should go in?" Morgan asked, eyes confused.

"Agent Prentiss will not be participating in this interrogation," Hotch said firmly.

Emily fisted her hands, but said nothing while everyone else exchanged looks. She _would not _get into it again with him, especially not in front of the team. They all had seen the fight yesterday and JJ knew about the argument the previous night; she wouldn't allow their personal issues to seep into work any further than they already had.

"All right…" Morgan squinted.

He and Reid had absolutely no success with the UnSub and by midday, they were pulled.

"Hotch, I really think that the best course of action is for Emily—" Reid started when Hotch's annoyed tone cut him off.

"No. Didn't you hear what I said before? Agent Prentiss will _not_ be participating in this interrogation," Hotch restated his early stance.

"Aaron, can I talk to you?" Dave requested, motioning to the very conference room in which Emily and Hotch had argued the night before.

Hotch gave him a hard look but followed him into the room and shut the door.

Emily was pissed. She knew that she could do this. The guys had had no luck, why wouldn't he even let her try?

They all watched in silence as Hotch and Dave each took turns gesticulating and talking. Hotch's actions were aggressive and frustrated whereas Dave's were soothing and calm.

Finally, Hotch's shoulders slumped and they saw him nod once before the two older men rejoined them.

"Prentiss, you're up," Hotch said resignedly, studying his left shoe while he spoke.

--+--

"May I sit?" Hotch asked Emily on the plane late that night—or early the next morning depending how you looked at it.

She shrugged and nodded.

"We need to talk," he said.

"I'm aware," she replied coldly.

"Emily…"

"What do you want Hotch?" Emily sighed, she was so frustrated and emotionally drained by the whole situation that she wasn't sure if she could handle another confrontation. Especially not one where they had to whisper to avoid waking all of the sleeping members of their team.

"I…I'm sorry," he hesitated but said after a moment.

She just looked at him. He'd treated her like crap; if he thought he was getting away with a simple 'I'm sorry' he was severely mistaken.

He seemed to know that so he continued to speak after a couple of beats. "I was out of line. You were right; I didn't want to send you in there for personal reasons. It was really hard for me to see what that man did to those women."

"You think it wasn't hard for me, Aaron? I had to look at women who could have passed as me and see them mutilated. Not only that, but I had to look at the man who did it remorselessly and go in and talk to him, knowing that all he'd been thinking about was doing the same thing to me that he did to them. You think that was _easy_?" she pointed out, trying to keep her tone steady.

"You're right…that had to be ridiculously hard. I'm so sorry Em, I didn't think of it like that. I just…I didn't want to see you in that situation," he sighed.

"I get that, I do, but you know, it's my job. We _are_ the job. If you can't deal with that, then something needs to change," she told him.

"What are you saying?"

"I don't know. I just know that if you're going to get like this, then _something_ needs to change. I don't know if that means that one of us transfers, or...this _thing_…ends, but something would have to change," she shook her head. As she said the word 'thing', she motioned between the two of them with her hand.

He grabbed the hand that she was flapping and held it securely.

"No. This _thing_ is not ending. Look, it was a bad case. I was wrong to do what I did and say the things that I said, I never meant to imply that the team didn't need you or that I didn't think you were qualified, I was just being selfish and scared," he admitted. "But I know I was wrong and I can learn from it. It won't happen again."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes. And if I do something like this again, then I promise you I will transfer the moment we're back at Quantico," he assured her.

"I guess we're all allowed one screw up," she conceded.

"I like to think we are," he agreed.

She stared at him contemplatively. She didn't want to leave the team and she knew he didn't either. Plus, she liked working with him, otherwise, she would never get to see him. The other option was ending them, but she liked that one even less. Realizing there was no better option Emily nodded.

He reached up and stroked her cheek but didn't touch her any further. They were still at work and he was respectful of that.

He did wrap his arm around her shoulders and pull her into his body though, needing the closeness. They would usually not act like this on the plane, but they both knew that that line was more for themselves. The team was supportive of their relationship and was happy that they were together; they wouldn't mind the casual touch that Emily and Hotch were sharing.

"I really am sorry, Emily," he whispered.

"I know, and I am too," she nodded.

He kissed her temple and she settled against his side to try and sleep until they landed.

_They would be okay.

* * *

_

_A/N: So? What'd ya think? Anyway, I'm hoping to get one more chapter up this week but then there won't be any next week because I'm going to Peru to volunteer over my spring break. I tried to make this somewhat realistic, but I don't know how well I did with that.  
_

_Important Note: I'm putting a poll up in my profile to see if you guys think that a baby should be brought into this story. I just can't decide. So, be sure to vote or to let me know what you think if/when you review! Thanks!  
_


	6. F is for Finally

_A/N: Chapter 6! Okay, so this one is shorter than the rest (not by too much though) and in my opinion, the content makes it worth it. Hope you enjoy!_

_Timeline: June 2013. Emily and Aaron have been together for 3 years and Jack is 8.

* * *

_

_**Chapter 6**_

_**F is for Finally**_

--+--_**  
**_

"Hurry up!" Jack urged as he hopped from one foot to the other after getting out of the car.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Emily laughed, looking for the chapstick that she'd dropped by her feet.

"Jack," Hotch said coming to rest his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Calm down."

The eight-year-old took a deep breath and stopped moving his feet. He was still fairly vibrating with excitement, but did a good job of hiding it.

"What's gotten into you anyway?" Emily asked as she slammed the door shut and caught up with her boys.

"I dunno," Jack shrugged, chewing on his lips.

"O…kay…" Emily raised an eyebrow skeptically.

Hotch bit his tongue, keeping a firm grip on his son's shoulder as the three of them, as a single unit, headed to their favorite place in the park. There was a bunch of big rocks in a small clearing and Jack loved to play on them, jumping off, hiding behind them, running between them. It was where the three of them had gone together the first time that Emily was invited on an outing with the Hotchner men.

"Watch!" Jack yelled as he took off toward the rocks.

The three of them played around on the rocks, laughing and joking as they had fun. Both Hotch and Emily were careful to keep an eye on Jack, but managed to have a good time themselves.

At one point, Emily looked up and realized that she couldn't see either Hotchner.

"Aaron?" she called.

"Other side," he called back.

She scrambled over the rocks. They were in a safe area, but she had seen too much in her life to be okay with not having an eye on them.

Emily jumped off of the rock nimbly and brushed off her pants before looking up. When she did, she nearly choked on her tongue and had a heart attack.

Both Hotch and Jack were down on one knee, each fairly beaming at her.

"Aaron?" Emily asked, her voice shaking as her throat constricted.

"Em…there's something Jack and I would like to ask you," Aaron told her.

She didn't know what to say so she nodded. It was fairly obvious from their positioning what they wanted to ask her.

"Go ahead buddy, you remember what you wanted to say?" Hotch encouraged his son.

"Yup," Jack nodded to his father and looked at Emily. "Emmy, Daddy and I love you a whole lot. He said that I could tell you why I love you if I wanted to and I want to."

Emily's eyes starting tearing up automatically and she bit down on her lip to hold off of the waterworks.

"I really like when you make my favorite foods when you and Daddy come back from work trips. And I like when you get back from trips and pick me up from Pen's or Aunt Jess's or Henry's and you give me a hug and whisper in my ear that you love me. It makes me feel better to know that you missed me too because I always miss you when you're gone," he said.

"One more thing…I like that you make Daddy happy. Even when he's in a bad mood, all you have to do is talk to him and it makes him smile. It's nice when Daddy smiles."

Emily felt a tear escape and trickle down her cheek.

Jack scrambled over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Emily lifted him and squeezed him tightly. "I love you so much sweetie."

"Good," Jack smiled. He placed a wet kiss on her tear-streaked face and then went back and dropped down on his knee again, next to his father.

"Good job buddy," Hotch complimented his son and pressed a kiss to his head, a huge grin on his face after listening to the boy's words. Jack had told him what he wanted to say, but he'd pulled it off in a way that only an eight-year-old could.

"All right, my turn," Hotch said. He was really happy but he couldn't deny the nervous feeling that settled in his stomach. He cleared his throat and blocked those feelings.

"Like Jack so aptly said, we love you a whole lot Emily," his lips quirked and Emily let out a tearful chuckle. "You've been so amazing to us since day one that I can't even explain how thankful I am for everything that you've done. Nothing brightens my day more than seeing you interact with Jack, even when I know you just want to break down. You've been my rock, Em, for the last three and a half years.

"When…when Haley died, you know what she asked of me. For a really long time, I was convinced that I wouldn't be able to deliver on the most important promise of my life. Obviously though, from everything that Jack just said, I have and I wouldn't have been able to do it without you," he paused and cleared his throat again. He felt like there was no way he could express his gratitude.

"You're the best thing in Jack and my life and I love you so much, you've become my everything," Hotch said, talking around the lump in this throat.

"Aaron," Emily murmured, the tears falling freely now. She reached out and stroked his cheek, trying to convey her love for him.

"You said that you wanted me to think about it and know that this is what I wanted before I asked and I know, without a doubt, that this is what I want. Now, I did this wrong the first time, so I'm gonna let Jack take it from here," Hotch said, taking her hand and squeezing it.

He stuck his other hand into his right pocket and pulled out the black velvet box. "Jack? Just like we practiced."

"Emmy, like we've been saying, we love you. Daddy wants to marry you and I want him to. Will you spend the rest of your life with us?" Jack asked, trying really hard to get all of the words, which he'd practiced with his father, right.

"Of course," Emily agreed around the still flowing tears.

Hotch slid the ring onto her finger and got to his feet.

"You're amazing," Emily told the man in front of her.

"I have to be to keep you," he grinned.

She leaned in and pressed her lips to his. She honestly couldn't believe that he'd done this. After his botched proposal a month earlier, she didn't really think that this moment would ever come.

He returned her kiss and lifted her into his arms, holding her against his chest securely so that her feet weren't touching the ground. She was pretty sure she would be floating without his support anyway.

Hotch felt Jack tug on his arm and he pulled away from Emily and hoisted Jack onto his left hip, leaving his right hand on Emily's hip. They both knew that soon Jack would be to big to be carried like that, so they'd tried to avoid picking him up, but this was a special day--obviously--so Hotch made an exception and was happy to have his son so close.

"Did I do good?" Jack asked now that he was level with the two adults.

"You did great, Jackster," Emily kissed him.

"You really did buddy. She said yes, didn't she? That must mean you did a better job than when I did it," Hotch pointed out.

"I did better than you," Jack giggled.

"You did. What do you guys says to going to get some dinner to celebrate?" Hotch suggested.

"Sounds perfect," Emily said and Jack nodded his agreement.

--+--

"Wow," Emily breathed.

"Was that in response to today or just now?" Hotch wanted to know as he lazily stroked his fingers up and down her naked spine.

"Both. You. This ring. All of it," Emily sighed happily.

Hotch smirked cockily. He loved making his usually loquacious girlfriend—_fiancé_—speechless.

She held her hand out in front of them and admired the ring on her finger.

It was beautiful and unique. It was a square cut diamond with an elaborate twisting of white gold, inlaid with small rubies, on the top of the band, holding up the diamond.

"Do you know why there's rubies?" Hotch asked.

"Tell me," Emily requested.

"Jack went with me to pick it out and he asked if we could get a ring that was red because it's your favorite color. That made me think…maybe the ring should have something to show that you're not just marrying me, but agreeing to spend your life as Jack's mother as well," Hotch explained. "So, the diamond is for me and the rubies are for Jack."

"I love it," Emily grinned, tears in her eyes for the umpteenth time of the day.

"Good," he kissed her on the top of the head.

"I'm glad you had the nerve to ask again. I really hadn't thought much about it, but after the first proposal, though…unconventional, I think it sort of planted the seed, whether I realized it or not," she admitted.

"After you shot me down, I knew it was a matter of time. I love you, I want you in my life forever," he told her.

"I would've been with or without this ring."

He smiled at that.

"So what are you thinking for the wedding? Fall or summer?" she wanted to know. She was in no hurry, but it didn't hurt to see where he was at on the matter.

"Anything you want, love, I'm just happy you finally said yes," he chuckled.

"Finally? You make it sound like I shot you down a million times. It was once…and can you blame me? Who wants to tell _that_ story? 'Well…we were in the shower…'," Emily protested.

Hotch couldn't help the laughter that bubbled from his chest.

* * *

_A/N: Okay, so as you now know, they're getting married!! Yaaay! I'm very happy about this and I'm really looking forward to writing the wedding. By the way, I'm sure you noticed that this references a "botched" proposal. I actually already wrote that chapter and I quite like it, but it's not gonna be up for awhile (it's Chapter 19--letter S) so we're still awhile off. Anyway, let me know what you thought of this!! And don't forget to vote about whether you think they should have a baby! (poll's in my profile) Thanks!!!_


	7. G is for Grandma?

_A/N: Hey...so I could give a bunch of excuses about why this took me so long, but it's not really worth it. Just know that I'm really sorry for the huge delay, life just sort of got into the way. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!! Let me know what you thought._

_Timeline: June 2011. So, Emily and Hotch have been together for a year and living together for a month; Jack is 5.  
_

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* * *

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_**Chapter 7**_

_**G is for Grandma?**_

"It'll be okay," Hotch said to Emily as she twittered around their bedroom anxiously.

"You don't know her like I know her, Aaron," Emily pointed out, shifting the lamp around on the dresser a fraction of an inch before picking an invisible piece of lint off of the curtain next to it.

"Em, calm down," Hotch insisted.

"You have no idea what she's really like," Emily said.

"Em…"

"She's this…_force_. An unstoppable force. Unfortunately for me, I've always been a _nearly_ immovable object," Emily continued as if Hotch hadn't spoken.

"What if she doesn't like the house? What if she doesn't approve of you? What if she isn't nice to Jack?" Emily asked in rapid fire as she paced around the room.

Hotch opened his mouth, but Emily plowed on.

"I can't deal with this, Aaron. I'm happy. I love my life, I love you, I love Jack. I don't want her to ruin this for me. Everything's too perfect. That's why she's coming here. God hates me. I'm happy so he's sending the devil to ruin it." She wrung her hands and fiddled with the bedspread, smoothing absent creases. She took a breath and opened her mouth to keep going but Hotch cut her off.

"Emily!" Hotch grabbed her arms and pulled her nervous actions to a stop. He placed one finger under her chin and tilted her face up to look at him.

She met his eyes and tried her hardest to settle her nerves.

"It'll be okay," he reiterated his original point. "No matter what she says, we're in this together. It doesn't matter if she likes the house or approves of me, and what person is mean to a five year old?"

"You don't know my mother."

"I know her well enough to know that she wouldn't be mean to a five year old that she's meeting for the first time. You know, we can always cancel if you want," Hotch told her, maintaining eye contact.

"No…I have to do this," Emily shook her head.

"Are you sure?"

"You know…I know it's stupid, but I think I need her to be okay with this. She's never approved of _anything_ I've done and this…this is important to me. I need her to approve. I know it's stupid, stupid and illogical, but that doesn't change the fact that for some reason, this means a lot to me," Emily rambled.

"I understand. Well, I may not understand from a personal point of view, but I do understand that this is important to you. Maybe, this time, she'll be happy that you're happy," Hotch suggested, stroking her cheek gently.

"I hope so…I really don't want her to ruin this for me," Emily sighed.

"It'll be okay sweetheart," Hotch leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead, attempting to soothe her.

He'd known that Emily was uncomfortable when her mother called the previous week. She'd heard from Emily's father that she'd moved in with Hotch and his son and she'd insisted that she wanted to see the new house and meet Hotch and Jack.

Emily had argued that she'd already met Hotch—multiple times—but she'd been firm that she wanted to meet him in a personal capacity. Why she couldn't just meet someone once and make it stick was completely beyond Emily.

"DADDY!" Jack bellowed as he hurtled into the room.

"Hey buddy, good job getting dressed," Hotch pulled away from Emily and scooped his son off of the floor and into his arms.

"Well don't you look handsome," Emily smiled at the boy, fixing the collar on his dark green polo shirt. She'd picked out his favorite "nice" shirt for him on purpose, hoping that he would wear it all night without complaint.

"Thanks Emmy, you look pretty too," Jack grinned and held his arms out to her.

Emily accepted the boy from his father and held him close.

"So we're meeting your mommy, right?" Jack clarified.

"That's right," Emily agreed.

"Are you gonna be nice and remember your manners?" Hotch prompted his son. He was hoping that this would go as smoothly as possible, he wanted to make it easy for Emily. He knew how much it meant to her, irrational or not.

"Yup," Jack nodded with a satisfied grin.

"Good," Hotch approved. He stepped closer and pulled both his son and the woman he loved into his arms so that he was wrapped around both of them.

Emily reached up and smoothed Hotch's hair with one hand as his chin came to rest on her shoulder, one arm around her, the other helping to support Jack.

The doorbell rang and Hotch felt Emily tense.

"It'll be okay," he whispered in her ear.

The more he said it, the more she wanted to believe him.

Hotch led the way out of the room, into the hallway, down the stairs and to the front door, keeping one hand on the small of Emily's back the whole time, propelling her forward.

Hotch gave Emily a small nod and pulled the front door open, revealing none other than Elizabeth Prentiss looking elegant and professional all at once.

"Ambassador Prentiss, so nice to see you again," Hotch greeted politely, motioning the woman inside their home.

"Likewise, Agent Hotcher," the older woman smiled politely.

Emily cringed. She'd been hoping that her mother would initiate a less professional interaction by asking Aaron to call her Elizabeth, or something other than ambassador. She was already asserting her control over the situation and Emily wanted to thank her for coming and shove her right back out the door, but she didn't. She bit her tongue and smiled at the older woman.

"Hello Mother," Emily greeted.

"Hello Emily. How are you dear?" the ambassador smiled politely.

"I'm well, thank you. May I introduce you to Jack Hotchner?" Emily motioned to the boy she still held and then dipped her head to meet Jack's eyes. "Jack, this is my mother, Ambassador Prentiss."

"Hello there Jack," Elizabeth said to the boy.

"Hi," he said quietly, resting his head on Emily's shoulder and making cautious eye contact with the woman standing in the doorway.

"Please, come in," Hotch said, motioned Emily's mother out of the doorway and shut and locked the door behind her, before resetting the alarm system.

"Emmy, what's a umbassder?" Jack asked Emily quietly as Hotch led the way into the living room.

Emily considered how to try to explain it to a five year old. "You know how Daddy and I are _Agent_ Hotchner and Prentiss at work?"

He nodded.

"Well at work, she's _Ambassador_. It's her job title," Emily explained.

"But we're at home. You and Daddy never call each other agent at home, only at work. Except when you guys get that weird look and then end up kissing each other," Jack pointed out.

Emily bit back her chuckle at Jack's comment. She and Aaron would have to be more careful around Jack, he may be five but he's the son of a profiler, he picks up on things. "Some people like to be called those things all of the time because they really like their jobs."

"Oh. Okay," Jack accepted with a shrug.

"This is a lovely house, Emily, Agent Hotchner," Elizabeth said, looking around appraisingly.

Hotch slid his arm around Emily's waist, squeezing her side gently. He didn't want her freaking out.

"Thank you, we've put a good bit of effort into trying to make it comfortable," Hotch spoke up.

It was true. The house was a good size, four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, a nice sized attic that was Jack's playroom, a basement that was converted into a beautiful study for Hotch and Emily, a big kitchen with a butcher's block in the middle and stainless steel appliances, a dining room with Hotch's grandmother's furniture and a living room with a big screen TV and comfortable couches that you could sink in to.

Emily smirked as she remembered christening the living room with Hotch before they'd even moved in. She considered it a silent victory that it was literally where her mother was standing at that moment.

"Please, Mother, sit down. Dinner will be ready shortly," Emily motioned to the couch and her mother sat down on the loveseat.

)))

"Aaron," Emily said quietly.

He looked over at her and immediately saw what she wanted. After dinner they had moved back to the living room for coffee. Jack had been sitting on Emily's lap and was now sound asleep snuggled in her arms.

"I'll take him," Hotch agreed and set his coffee on the coffee table before coming toward the pair with his arms outstretched.

Emily lifted the sleeping boy into his father's arms as gently as possible, but somehow managed to rouse him.

"No, Emmy," Jack whined reaching back toward the woman he'd been snuggled against. They weren't sure why but for some reason Jack preferred for Emily to tuck him in at night and for Hotch to be the one that woke him in the morning.

"It's okay Buddy, Daddy's gonna take you to bed tonight, I'll read you an extra story tomorrow night, okay?" Emily cajoled, not wanting Jack to cause a scene.

"Okay," he agreed drowsily and Emily silently thanked God for her good luck.

"Back in a flash," Hotch said and offered Emily and Elizabeth each a smile before leaving the room.

Emily fingered the rim of her mug, not sure what to say to her mother now that they were alone.

"Am I going to be a grandmother?" Elizabeth's voice stirred Emily from her thoughts.

She looked up and stared. "What?"

"Are you pregnant? I can't help but believe that you are and that's why you moved in with Agent Hotchner," Elizabeth explained.

"Mother, I am _not_ pregnant. I moved in with him months ago, this is just a new house…didn't it occur to you that maybe I wanted to live with him and his son because I love them? And please, can you stop calling him Agent Hotchner? I'm not a child, I would appreciate it if you would not try to alienate my boyfriend while sitting in the home that I share with him," Emily finally said, her frustrations coming to the surface.

"I just don't see what you need such a large house for when there are only three of you," Elizabeth defended her question.

"We're trying to build a life together, Mother. I know that that concept may be difficult for you to understand because you were never terribly concerned with staying in one place long enough to do that, but this is important to me. I want a stable place for Jack to grow up. And no, I may not be pregnant now, but I will be some day and I'd like to be settled when that happens."

Elizabeth stared at her daughter. "Well I'm sorry for the insinuation, I didn't mean to offend you. Just be careful, Emily."

"Careful of what?" Emily asked haughtily.

"Of this _life_ you're building. I understand that you want to play house right now, but don't forget that Agent Hotchner is a father and his first priority will always be his son and his second will always be his job. I deluded myself into not seeing that when I married your father and look where I ended up, divorced with a daughter who will hardly talk to me," Elizabeth said.

Emily knew that her mother was trying to help, but she couldn't believe that Elizabeth was comparing her and Aaron's relationship to the one Elizabeth had had with Emily's father. That had been a relationship of convenience and status, not one of love and mutual respect.

"With all due respect, Ambassador Prentiss, but you're wrong," Aaron's voice entered the room just then. "No one is more grateful for you looking out for Emily than I am, but I'm not someone you need to protect her against. You're right, on one thing, though. Jack is and will always be my first priority with my job being the second. What you failed to mention is that it's not just Jack who is my first priority, but my family as a whole and that now includes your daughter."

Elizabeth studied the man in front of her with appraising brown eyes. "I hope you mean that, Agent Hotchner."

"My family is not something I take lightly. I love Emily with my entire heart and someday, I will love our children just as much," Hotch assured her. He said it in a calm tone, but it was more than obvious that he was passionate about his words and was telling Elizabeth to back off.

"Well that's good to hear. I hope you two can find all the happiness that you deserve," Elizabeth said, offering each a bracing smile.

Emily exhaled. The words that Hotch and her mother were exchanging seemed barbed to an outsider, but Emily knew that an agreement had just been reached and a respect had formed and she was very thankful for such.

"I should be going," Elizabeth said, checking her watch.

"I'll walk you out," Emily nodded, following her mother after Elizabeth and Aaron had exchanged polite farewells.

"I really am proud of you, Emily. I know sometimes you doubt that and that I have trouble showing it, but I honestly do respect the life you lead and think that you are doing a fabulous job," Elizabeth told her daughter.

"Thank you mother," Emily grinned despite her best efforts.

Elizabeth smiled and kissed her daughter on the cheek and was gone.

Emily fairly floated back into the living room where Aaron was cleaning up coffee cups. He looked up with a questioning look. "Well?"

"My mommy's proud of me," Emily told him, glee evident in her voice.

* * *

_A/N: So here it is, hope it was okay! I'm hoping that my spell of craziness in life is over and my writer's block is too. I have the next chapter written and edited so it should be up soon and the one after that is almost completely written but unedited as yet. Please let me know what you think!!_

_Also, shout out to kimtom4eva for reading this and putting up with my annoying insecurities!! It's greatly appreciated :)_


	8. H is for Home

_A/N: Hey everyone, so here's the next installment of this little tale. I took into account the poll that I set up, plus my own opinion, plus where the characters sort of carried me and this is the result. It's kind of really majorly fluffy, but hey, we can all use a little fluff in our lives, right? Enjoy!_

_Timeline: It's May 2014, so Em and Hotch have been together for almost 4 years and Jack is eight and a half._

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_**Chapter 8**_

_**H is for Home**_

"They're perfect," Emily sighed, staring down at the baby girl and baby boy sleeping in the crib.

"They are," Hotch agreed. He wrapped his arms around Emily's waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder as they watched the sleeping babies intently.

"Amy Rose and Noah James Hotchner," Emily said, a smile flitting across her lips.

"I think we did pretty well with the names, I must say," Hotch kissed Emily on the cheek, close to her ear and nuzzled her gently.

"I'm exhausted…I just…I don't want to stop watching them," Emily commented.

"Come on, we should get some sleep while we can," Hotch encouraged. He knew the feeling though. These tiny little babies were already the center of his universe (along with their mommy and big brother, of course) and he didn't want to take his eyes off of Amy's feathery black hair and Noah's chubby cheeks.

Emily nodded and followed him reluctantly to their bedroom.

"Can you believe it?" she asked him quietly as they snuggled together in their bed.

"What?"

"I don't know…all of it. Our life. Five years ago if someone had told you that this is where you'd be, what would you have said?" Emily asked.

"I probably would've laughed. You have to remember though…five years ago I was at one of the lowest places I'd ever been and now I'm at the highest. This is the best moment of my life—aside from when Jack was born. Not to mention I have the most beautiful and kind hearted wife that anyone could ask for," Hotch reminded her.

"You're sweet," she kissed his lips lingeringly but pulled away and pillowed her head on his chest again. "I never would've believed I'd get everything I wanted."

"This is everything you wanted?

"Uh…yeah. Pretty much to the letter. I have my tall, dark, and handsome prince, a perfect little stepson, and a brand new beautiful baby girl and bouncing baby boy. I have a family," Emily nodded.

Hotch slipped his hand under her shirt and stroked her back lovingly.

"You've always had a family, Em," he told her.

"Not like this. Growing up with my mother was…_difficult_, to say the least. Then, with all of the moving around and…Italy…it was like I never fit, I never had the family support," she said.

"Jack and I, we've been your family for nearly four years and the team before that. You have family Em…and the whole family loves you. You mean the world to each and every one of us," he informed her.

"I love you Aaron," she whispered. Her hormones were still a little out of whack so she was trying really hard not to cry.

"I love you too, sweetheart."

)))

"Your turn," Emily groaned a week later as crying came through the baby monitor for the third time that night.

"Okay, just give me your breast and we'll be set," Aaron murmured.

With Amy, Noah, and Jack, everything was a little hectic in their world as they tried to settle into some form of a routine, which was proving harder than anticipated.

"Funny man," Emily muttered and hoisted herself out of the bed.

"I'm coming baby, I'm coming," she said soothingly as she entered the nursery that the guys had helped Hotch paint in soft yellows, greens, and whites.

She settled into the rocking chair in the corner with Amy in her arms and began the feeding. She was thankful that Noah had fallen back asleep once Amy's cries had settled down. He was already a good sleeper, which was fantastic.

"Emmy?"

Emily looked up and Jack was peeking in the doorway.

"Hey sweetie, what are you doing up?" Emily asked, concerned. Having babies in the house was an adjustment for all of them and both Emily and Hotch were worried about how Jack was handling not being the center of attention all of the time.

"I heard crying and I was worried," he admitted, stepping in the room.

"It was Amy, but she's fine, just hungry. You don't have to worry, you can go get some sleep," Emily comforted the boy. She wished she could pull him into her lap and hold him for a few minutes like she always had, but her hands and lap were occupied for the time being.

"Can I stay? I like watching her and making sure she's safe," Jack asked quietly.

"Of course you can," Emily smiled brilliantly at the nine-year-old. His maturity and love never ceased to amaze her.

Jack came to sit on the little stool next to the changing table and watch over the two most important women in his life.

"How are you doing, buddy?" Emily asked her stepson.

"I'm all right…aren't you guys tired though? It seems like they're a lot of work," he shrugged.

"They are a lot of work, but it's worth it, don't you think?"

Jack nodded. "I like being a big brother. I like having someone to protect."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…Daddy protects you—I'm not big enough to protect you. And you and Daddy both protect me, but I'm big enough to protect Amy and Noah. They're my little brother and sister. Protecting is what big brothers do," Jack explained his logic.

Emily smiled again and her heart filled with adoration for Jack. "They've got the best big brother for the job, sweetie."

"Thanks Emmy."

Emily quickly burped Amy and rocked her for a few minutes before laying her back in the crib next to her twin brother and turning to Jack. "You ready to go back to bed?"

He looked contemplative. "I know I'm getting too big for it, but will you tuck me in? I miss when you used to come and lay down with me before bed."

"Absolutely. You'll never be too big for that, because I love you," Emily put her arm around his shoulders and they walked down the hall to his bedroom.

He crawled under the covers and she lay down on top of them, her arm around him.

"You like having the babies around, right?" Emily checked.

"Yeah. I mean, they're babies, so they don't really do much, but I'm excited for when they get bigger and I can play with them like I do with Henry."

Emily smiled at the connection he still shared with JJ's son.

"I'm sure they're looking forward to it too."

"Emmy?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Emily's eyes welled with tears. "I love you too, Jackster."

)))

Hotch awoke to the sound of whimpering coming from the baby monitor. He rolled over to rouse Emily to feed their son, but he found a cold spot where his wife usually slept.

Confused, he rolled out of bed and went in search of the missing woman.

He peeked into the nursery, but she wasn't in the rocking chair where he'd suspected she'd fallen asleep.

Hotch scooped the fussy baby boy out of the crib and proceeded down the hall and poked his head into his eldest son's room and his heart immediately filled with love.

There were his first-born and his wife, snuggled together, dead to the world asleep. Emily was on top of the blankets, but Jack was cuddled against her side, his head on her chest and arm across her stomach, her arms wrapped around him snugly.

Hotch didn't want to wake her, but he knew he had to unless he wanted both Jack and Amy to be woken when Noah started crying from hunger.

"Em," he whispered, bouncing Noah gently as he stroked Emily's cheek.

"Mmmm," Emily sighed and turned her face into his hand.

"Em, come on, wake up," he urged gently.

She opened her eyes and, though unfocused and confused, met his and he was struck by how beautiful she was.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her forehead creasing as she took in her surroundings and realized she'd fallen asleep in her stepson's room.

"Nothing's wrong, Noah's just a little hungry," Hotch explained.

"What time is it?" she wanted to know.

"Almost four."

"I'm surprised he lasted that long. Okay, I'm coming," she commented. She gently extracted herself from Jack's grasp and kissed the boy's forehead before following Hotch out of Jack's room and back into the nursery.

"I'm sorry to wake you," Hotch apologized as he passed the infant to his mother.

"It's not your fault, he's a Hotchner man, he gets fussy when he's hungry, just like his daddy and big brother do," Emily grinned up at him from her seat on the rocking chair.

"Yeah, yeah," Hotch rolled his eye good-naturedly.

"You can go to bed, love," Emily told him.

"No, no, I'm staying up. If you have to get up every two or three hours, I will too. It's only fair," Hotch shook his head and settled himself onto the stool by the changing table, much like Jack had an hour earlier.

"That's true, this situation _is_ your fault," Emily agreed.

"My _fault_? That makes it sound like it's a bad thing," Hotch cocked an eyebrow.

"If by bad thing, you mean the second best thing to ever happen to me, then yep, bad thing. Very bad thing," she grinned.

His lips quirked up on their own accord at her weird sense of humor. "What's the best thing?"

"You, silly. You and Jack, actually. I never would've been here otherwise," she admitted.

"You deserve it, Em. You're gonna be the best mother in the entire world. You have been to Jack for the last four years."

"It's easy to be there for someone when you love them as much as I love our kids," Emily shrugged.

Hotch smiled at her and leaned over, pressing a kiss to her lips.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"For what?"

"For being you. I just never thought I'd be here again, being a new daddy. Now I'm one to two babies? It's like…it's surreal," Hotch tried to explain.

"Thank _you_, Aaron. You've given me everything," her eyes welled up. He truly had given her everything she'd ever wanted. Even before she'd found out that she was pregnant, he'd made her a mother—something she'd wanted so desperately for as long as she could remember.

And now, as she gazed down at the face of her son, she had the whole complete family that she'd always wanted. Two sons, a daughter, and the best husband in the world—the perfect family.

"I love you," he told her earnestly, staring at her. He'd always thought she was beautiful—even when he was still married to Haley—but he'd never seen her look more breathtaking that she did cradling one of their babies.

"I love you more," she disagreed.

"Ah, the never ending debate. I'll fight you until my last breath on that one, it's _impossible_ to love someone more than I love you," he grinned.

She rolled her eyes but smiled. That was one debate she was more than willing to have for the rest of her life.

* * *

_A/N: So, like I said, pretty fluffy, but oh well. Let me know what you think!!!_

_And thank you, yet again, to the lovely kimtom4eva for beta-ing!!!_


	9. I is for Idea

_A/N: Okay, so it's been ages since I've updated. I caught mono and had finals, not to mention major mental blockage. But I'm back now, and it's summer, and there was a new episode tonight, so I'm hoping to get a few chapters up in the near future. Hope you guys have stuck with me._

_Timeline: This takes place in June 2010._

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_**Chapter 9**_

_**I is for Idea**_

"Prentiss, would you like to get dinner tomorrow?"

Emily hardly glanced up from the TV. "Sure."

Hotch stared at her, "Prentiss."

She glanced over at him and then turned to look at him fully when she saw that he was looking at her instead of the movie playing across the TV. "What?"

"I just asked you if you'd like to get dinner tomorrow night," he told her.

"Yeah…I know. I said sure. What's the big deal? We get dinner, like, three times a week," she cocked an eyebrow at him like he was losing his mind.

He was starting to feel like maybe he was. Maybe this was a terrible idea. No turning back now though, she was staring at him, obviously waiting for his explanation about his weirdness.

"I was thinking that maybe we could go somewhere different…you know, somewhere nice?" he suggested.

"Not that I'm opposed to that, but are you sure it's worth it? I mean, you know how Jack gets when he has to dress up and sit still for more than twenty minutes," Emily reminded him.

"Yeah, I was thinking I could get a babysitter for Jack," Hotch nodded, gauging her opinion.

"I…I don't understand," Emily said, confusion—and was that hope?—written on her face as she looked back at him wide-eyed.

"A date Emily. I want to take you on a date," Hotch burst out, not able to contain it anymore. If he hadn't said it right then, he never would have been able to. That would have been fine in any other situation, but not now. He had thought this over very carefully and he wanted this. He wanted Emily.

She looked back at him, her brown eyes quizzical, looking almost as if she thought he was joking. She hadn't dared to let herself believe that she wasn't alone in her desire for more than the close friendship that they had formed since Haley's death.

She must have waited too long to answer because he seemed to lose his nerve. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed. Can we just pretend this didn't happen?" Hotch begged.

"Wait. Wait. I don't want to pretend this didn't happen. You sprung it on me out of nowhere, took me a second to comprehend," Emily's hand shot out and rested on Hotch's arm.

"So…you want to?" he asked again, his dark brown eyes meeting hers for the first time since he'd asked her.

"Yeah…I'd like that," Emily agreed, squeezing his arm gently before withdrawing her hand.

"Good…so, tomorrow?" he clarified.

She nodded and, with that, they both turned back to the movie playing across the screen and said nothing else about the matter.

)))

This was a terrible idea.

What had he been thinking asking out Emily Prentiss? She was his best friend, not to mention his subordinate. He hadn't dated in twenty years and now he picked his subordinate to start up with?

_That made a lot of sense, Aaron. _

He should've been going out with some nice girl that Dave set him up with to get back on the scene. Not with one of the most infuriating, frustrating, kind, brave, gorgeous women he'd ever encountered.

What was he going to do when it went wrong?

He shook himself from his thoughts and raised his hand to knock on the door to Emily's apartment.

"Hey," Emily offered him a breathless smile as she opened the door to admit him to her apartment.

"Hi," he replied softly.

As he took in her outfit, every reason that he shouldn't be here flew out of his mind and he was reminded of all of the pros. She looked beautiful in her deep red dress that accented her curves subtly but perfectly. Just looking at her made Hotch's mouth go dry. He didn't know how to react to her looking so lovely. His stomach knotted tightly.

"Just give me one second, I have to find my other shoe," Emily said as she hurried toward the closet.

Hotch stood, not sure what to do with himself, as she rummaged around in the closet and finally pulled out the black high heel.

"Okay, ready," she smiled at him as she pulled her shoes on.

He noted that with her heels on, she was nearly as tall as him and he loved that he could look directly into her eyes. He wondered what it would be like to kiss her without having to bend over. He was crossing his fingers that he would play his cards right and get the opportunity to find out what a kiss would be like by the end of the night.

"Hotch?" Emily waved her hand in front of his face.

"Right, sorry. Lets go," Hotch nodded, shaking himself out of his thoughts and led Emily to his car, opening her door for her before getting in himself and pulling out of the parking lot.

Hotch wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure what to say. He'd spent hours—probably _days_—with the woman sitting in the car with him since his ex-wife's death, but he couldn't, for the life of him think of something interesting to say to her now, when it mattered most.

The silence wasn't a comfortable one. It was thick and wrought with nerves.

"So…where are we going?" Emily asked.

He glanced over at her and saw the way that she was fidgeting her hands and fiddling with the edge of her purse as she spoke, indicating her own nervousness.

"I made," Hotch started but his voice was rough and nearly a squeak from not using it, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "I made a reservation at the Oval Room." He was thankful that this time his voice sounded normal instead of like a pre-pubescent boy.

"The Oval Room? I've never been, but I heard it's really good," Emily commented.

"Mmm," Hotch nodded, glad that she was happy with his choice for the evening.

Neither of them spoke and, again, the silence was awkward and obvious.

)))

"Thank you for dinner," Emily said stiffly. "It was very good."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Hotch replied just as stiffly.

Their dinner had been delicious and the service impeccable, but the conversation had been stalling and fraught with awkward glances and tense silences. Not at all the way that Hotch had hoped this night would go.

He and Prentiss had forged a friendship over the last six months. A _close_ friendship. He trusted her with his life and his son, but he didn't know how to be around her in a situation like this. She made him nervous.

_Nothing _made him nervous, but she did.

"All right…well…thanks for a nice night," Emily tried to smile at him as he walked her to her door.

So much for getting to find out what it would be like to kiss her in those heels. Her smile looked more like a pained grimace than an indication of pleasure.

He nodded and offered a "smile" of his own.

He was halfway down the hall before he realized how ridiculous he was being. He hadn't just gone out with a random girl that he never had to see again. This was _Emily_. He trusted her with his life! With his son! How could he have acted like a sixteen year old who had never been on a date before?

She was too good for that. He'd been so nervous about being the perfect date that he'd over thought every single moment and he wished he could take back the entire thing and start over.

This was the woman that he could talk to for _hours_ about anything, everything, nothing, and be both amused and intrigued. What was he thinking? He'd barely said a word the entire night.

His fist met the wood of her door before he even realized that he'd turned around and his legs had carried him back to her apartment.

"Did you forget something?" Emily opened the door and looked confused at the sight of him.

"Yeah. How to be a real person. Emily, I'm sorry about tonight," Hotch told her.

"Sorry? What for?" she wanted to know.

"For the whole thing. I asked you out because I like spending time with you and I wanted to get to know you on a more…personal level. You have to understand…I haven't been on a date in twenty years…I'm basically new at this. I'm sorry that I was such a bad date, I really wanted it to go better," Hotch sighed out in a rush.

"It wasn't…bad," Emily lied.

Hotch knew she was lying. Not only did he know her and her tells, but he was a behaviorist who had just gone on the worst date in history. Obviously she was lying.

"Emily. It was the worst date ever. _I_ was the worst date ever," he apologized dejectedly.

Emily's heart went out to the man in front of her. She knew that he was a good guy and really wanted her to be happy, he just needed some help.

"Would you like to come in?" she offered.

He chuckled mirthlessly. "I don't deserve an invitation in."

"Maybe not as the guy who took me out tonight, but you forget, you're also my best friend. So, as my best friend, why don't you come in?" she explained.

He met her eyes and smiled before he nodded.

As he followed her into the apartment, he realized that it was probably the first time that he'd done either of those things—met her eyes or smiled—since picking her up.

They settled on the couch after popping in a movie and she slipped her cold toes under his thigh, just like she always did as he set his arm across the back of the couch, not quite touching her but close enough that she could feel his presence.

"Hey," he reached out and grasped her elbow. It was now or never. He needed her to know that he wasn't sorry he asked her out. He was sorry that he'd acted like a putz and had been a bad date, but he wasn't sorry that he'd tried to initiate a relationship. The fact that they could settle back into a normal interaction gave him hope that maybe he hadn't screwed up irreversibly. But it was now or never; if he didn't say something now, she would never be able to look at him romantically. He was sure of that.

She turned and looked at him expectantly.

"You looked gorgeous tonight. That's where it all went wrong," he told her earnestly.

"That's where it all went wrong?" she cocked an eyebrow at him curiously.

"Yeah…I was nervous and then I saw you and you look like _that_," he eyed her appreciatively, "And it was all over. You're…breathtaking."

"That's really sweet of you to say," Emily murmured when she'd recovered from not only the shock of the compliment but the fact that it was _Hotch_ who was telling her that she was breathtaking. It was almost like a dream. She hoped it _wasn't_ a dream.

"Look…I understand if you say no, but will you give me another chance? I honestly think that there could be something here and I would hate to not have the chance to explore that just because I can't handle myself around a beautiful woman," Hotch braced himself. He wouldn't be surprised if she shut him down, in fact, he wouldn't blame her at all—he probably deserved it.

"I…I think I'd like to give it another chance," Emily agreed after a moment.

He gave her a smile so brilliant that she knew she'd made the right decision. Happiness looked good on him.

Impulsively, she leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss on his lips.

When she pulled back, he was staring at her wide-eyed. "What was that for?"

"I've always wondered what that would be like. Plus, now when we go out again, I don't have to watch what would surely be a painful show of you trying to get up the courage to kiss me."

He wanted to argue, but he knew she was probably right, so, instead he just accepted it with a chuckle and a shake of his head, already planning their _real_ first date.

* * *

_A/N: So there is it. It may seem sort of out of character, but I feel like Hotch would be nervous on his first date after Haley and maybe even more so if it was someone who was already important to him, not just some throw away woman he never had to see again._

_Anyway, this is un-betaed because I just wanted to get it up and I'm not really sure how I feel about it, especially the end, but I'm hoping it was at least okay and you managed to enjoy it somewhat. Like I said, look for another update soon-ish. Thanks for reading!_


	10. J is for JellO

_A/N: Okay, so here's chapter 10. I tried to get it up in timely fashion, so if there are any editing errors, I truly apologize._

_Timeline: This segment occurs in January 2011. They've been together for about 7 months and Jack is a couple months past 5. They aren't living together or anything, but they're very much committed to one another._

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**J is for Jell-O**

"All right, I'll see you tomorrow, okay Buddy?" Hotch kissed his son's head.

"Why can't you just come home now? You seem okay to me," Jack pointed out to his father.

Hotch gave Emily a pleading look, showing just how much he agreed with his son. She rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "Jack, Daddy's okay but he just had his appendix out, remember? The doctors just want him to stay a little bit longer to make sure he's okay."

"Okay. But he still seems okay to me," Jack shrugged and hopped off the hospital bed.

"Thanks for taking him Jess," Hotch thanked his ex-wife's sister as the woman leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Not a problem. Emily should be here to spend time with you and make sure you actually sit still. Plus, this way she can get some sleep tonight instead of having to stop and get him on her way home," Jess nodded.

"We really appreciate it," Emily smiled.

"Of course. You feel better soon, Aaron. Jack, are you ready to go?" Jessica asked her nephew.

"Okay! Can we watch Jurassic Park?" Jack requested as his aunt led him out of the room.

"How are you _really_ feeling?" Emily asked, moving to sit in the chair right next to Hotch's bed and taking his hand in her own. She stroked it gently and pressed her lips to his knuckles softly.

"I'm _really_ feeling okay. Ready to get out of this damn bed," Hotch insisted.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Did you bring me some case files to look at?" he asked, looking like a kid in a candy store.

"Nope," Emily shook her head.

He stared at her in disbelief. He couldn't believe that she was completely cutting him off from work. It's not like he asked her to take him to the office or something. Although, as he thought about it, given the opportunity he would have gone in a heartbeat.

"Emily, I have things that need to get done. There are reports to read, consults to attend to, just because I'm in the hospital doesn't mean I'm useless. I had my _appendix _out for God's sake. It's not like I'm dying," he grumped, his voice a little louder than necessary.

"Oh quit being a baby. I brought you files," Emily shook her head at his reaction.

"You're infuriating," he told her.

"You're a workaholic," she countered.

"You're pushy."

"You're stubborn and pig-headed."

"You are too," he reminded her.

She considered this for a moment before shrugging and nodding her assent.

)))

"This is repulsive. It hardly qualifies as food," Hotch grumbled darkly, pushing away the tray of food that the nurse had brought him for dinner.

"You just had your appendix out this morning and are still in the hospital…what were you expecting? Pot roast and fresh vegetables?" Dave rolled his eyes at his friend.

"No, but I think I could handle something with a little more substance than chicken broth, juice, and Jell-O," Hotch said sullenly.

"You truly are the worst patient ever. I don't know how Emily deals with you," Dave commented.

"By getting you to come babysit me while she steps out. Which, by the way, you didn't need to do. I'm perfectly capable of sitting here by myself without getting into any trouble," Hotch pointed out.

"That's where we differ in opinion. Who knows how long you could be here alone before trying to talk the doctor into discharging you immediately and then pulling the federal agent card when he said no. No, no, I think Emily was perfectly justified in calling me to babysit," Dave smirked.

"Of course I was. Lord knows how long it would take for him to have checked himself out, AMA and be halfway home," Emily's voice agreed as she entered the room, having caught the tail end of their conversation.

"That's true. I thought he may threaten the doctor, but checking himself out is also an option," Dave nodded.

"I'm right here you know," Hotch huffed.

"Yes dear, we know," Emily rolled her eyes and stroked his hair gently.

The three sat and chatted for awhile longer before Dave saw that it was nearly eight o'clock and bid the pair farewell before taking his leave.

"So, where'd you go while Dave babysat?" Hotch asked absently.

"Oh you know, just to grab some stuff…like an ice cream cup for you," she said casually, reaching into the bag she'd brought back with her and producing a small plastic cup filled with fudge ripple ice cream.

"You are a goddess," Hotch moaned and reached for it.

"It's probably a little melty," Emily warned him, digging out a spoon and handing it to him.

"That's okay, that's exactly how I like it," Hotch said.

"I know. That's why I wasn't worried about giving it to you immediately upon my return," Emily nodded as she settled back in her own chair, content to watch him enjoy his little treat.

"I'm surprised that you got this, going against the clear liquids diet," Hotch commented. He almost instantly regretted his words, what if she took the cup from him and didn't allow him to eat his dessert because he opened his big mouth??

"Yeah, well, you know me, I like to break rules," Emily shrugged, unaffected.

He studied her for a moment. "You asked the nurse if it was okay, didn't you?"

She grinned and nodded.

"I should've known," he rolled his eyes.

"Why're you whining about it? You got your ice cream, didn't you? I could've left you to eat…" she turned to his discarded dinner tray and surveyed the contents, "Chicken broth and…Jell-O? You had _Jell-O_ for dinner?"

"I didn't eat it. I hate Jell-O," he shrugged.

"How can you _hate Jell-O_?" she asked, clearly affronted.

"I prefer foods that don't jiggle their way through my digestive tract. Things that stand on their own and are made of real food," he replied.

"You're insane," she said and took the Jell-O from his plate. "I'm eating this."

"Have at it. If you don't mind disgustingly sweet flavored goo, it's all yours."

Emily ignored him and pulled open the tab on the red snack.

They ate their respective desserts in silence for a minute or two before Hotch heard Emily let out a moan.

"Huh, I thought I was the only thing that could make you moan like that," he joked.

"Shut it. This is heavenly," Emily sighed happily.

"It's _Jell-O_. You may be one of the only people in the entire world to classify that as heavenly," Hotch shook his head.

"Then the rest of the world doesn't know what they're missing. It's so delightful; all cherry flavored and smooth and yummy. It basically melts on your tongue but has enough substance that it isn't just like drinking juice or something. And the best is when it comes in fun shapes. You know, stars or hearts or whatever else. Ohh, and jell-o shots, soo good," she rambled.

As Emily was listing the merits of Jell-O, Hotch stopped hearing her specific words by the word "cherry". He was absolutely mesmerized by her.

There she was, this adult, professional, _beautiful_ woman who was talking about Jell-O, of all things. He'd never met anyone like her, anyone who could be so happy over such a small thing. She was like that with everything, not just her dessert selection. Hotch knew that there were some things that brought her down, but she was always the happy face of reason when someone needed it. It never took much to put a smile on her face and for that, he was so thankful.

In the twenty years he'd been with Haley, he'd never been able to cheer her up so effortlessly. Every single thing that didn't go according to plan was the end of the world. Emily was like a fresh of breath air on that front. In the seven months they'd been together, he'd found that she was more than able and willing to roll with the punches and often said that it was the imperfections that made life interesting and beautiful. Before he realized what he was saying, words were spilling from his mouth. As soon as he heard them though, he knew that they were true…knew that they'd been true for a long time.

"I love you Emily."

She stopped mid-word, while saying something about Jell-O with fruit bits and stared at him. "What did you say?"

He doubted himself for a moment, but pushed the doubts back. He did. He did love her and she should know it, whether she said it back or not.

"I said that I love you. You don't have to say it back or anything, but I just thought that you should know," he repeated.

Emily grinned and dropped her Jell-O cup onto the tray table in front of him. She leaned in and kissed him, her hands immediately going up to tangle in his hair.

When their tongues met in this passionate kiss, the flavors of his vanilla and chocolate ice cream and her cherry Jell-O mixed and for a moment he was inclined to agree that the disgusting "food" she had just been eating was, in fact, quite delicious.

"I love you too, you know," she admitted when they broke apart and she rested their foreheads together.

"More than Jell-O?" he teased.

She pretended to think for a second.

"Hey!" he protested her pause.

"Yes, more than Jell-O. All the Jell-O in the world would never compare," she grinned and kissed him lightly.

"Good to know. For a second I was afraid that you were going to leave me for a pudding cup," he rolled his eyes.

She chuckled and settled back into her seat. She picked up the discarded Jell-O and went back to savoring each bite.

"You know…I may have been wrong," she said a minute later.

"About what? About me being well enough to go home right now?" he asked hopefully, though he knew full well that it was only wishful thinking.

"No, because you aren't going home a minute before the doctor says you can. I may have been wrong when I said that all of the Jell-O in the world wouldn't compare to you. This is just supposition of course, but I think that if I made a Jell-O mold of you, that may be even better than the real thing," she said thoughtfully.

He stared at her. Was she serious? The thing was, he was betting she was serious. Yup, he really did love this woman.

* * *

_A/N: All right, so that was the first time they exchanged "I love yous". In my opinion, they both already knew that they loved each other, but after everything they'd been through, I think they were both a little nervous about actually saying it. But now they have and it's out in the open and all is well._

_I haven't written the next chapter yet, but I have some ideas. I'm thinking that it may be a fight chapter. Not like a blowout or anything, but a moment of less than perfect happiness, because I feel like you can't be completely happy without fighting for what you want, and Hotch and Emily definitely want each other. Let me know if you have any ideas!! Thanks for reading!_


	11. K is for Kiss

_A/N: Yeah…so I said that I was going to update more often. Kind of dropped the ball on that one. I had a really difficult time with this chapter, plus, I have mono and have been sleeping like 18 hours a day. It IS a bit longer than the others if that's any consolation. This is a fight chapter like I said last time, so telling you to enjoy may not be the best sign off, but enjoy as much as possible I guess?_

_Timeline: This is November of 2010, so Emily and Hotch have been together for about 5 months. Jack is 5 and the team knows about their relationship (I don't think that either of those are necessary, but just to clarify)._

_

* * *

_

_**Chapter 11**_

_**K is for Kiss**_

Emily Prentiss stormed into her apartment and slammed her front door shut so hard that it made the crystal ornaments on the table shudder.

She kicked off her shoes, the rubber soles leaving a black scuff on the wall where they hit, and she threw her overnight back into the closet without bothering to take any of the dirty items out.

How dare that man?

They'd been together for five months. She spent almost every single moment with the man and he had the gall to question not only her commitment to this relationship but pretty much her entire personality? _How dare he?_

Then, to top it off, those terrible things he'd said to her in the parking garage. He'd needled every single one of her fears and insecurities in the most painful way possible.

She'd never have thought him capable of saying such awful things to her. Sure, he knew all of her fears and insecurities—not only was he her boyfriend, but he also happened to be one of the best behavioral analysts in the world—but never, in her wildest dreams, would she have believed that he would use those against her.

And that wasn't even the worst part.

The worst part had been the things that had spewed from her own mouth. She'd said things that were just as bad, if not worse, to him. The memory of some of the things that had poured off her tongue left a bitter taste in her mouth and a churning in the pit of her stomach.

He'd hurt her, yes; but what she hated even more was that she'd retaliated and hurt him right back.

By the time she reached her bedroom, the anger that had led her from Quantico and into her apartment had given way to an all consuming regret and sadness.

All she wanted to do was call him and tell him that she hadn't meant any of it. That she cared for him so much and she wished she could take it all back. But she couldn't.

Part of her told herself that she couldn't because he wouldn't want to talk to her. How could he, after the things she'd said to him? The other part (the part that was probably dominant) couldn't call because it would mean facing the reality of the situation. He was going to end it with her and this perfectly carved life that she'd worked so hard to achieve would crumble down around her.

And yet, there was almost nothing she wouldn't give to have him here in her bed, holding her close. Nothing made her feel better like his embrace.

Unfortunately for her, his embrace was clearly not an option tonight. _Maybe it never would be again_, she noted with the feeling of despair washing over her again.

She settled for a t-shirt of his that he'd left for nights that he spent at her place. She changed out of her work clothes and into the soft fabric of the shirt as well as a pair of his plaid boxers. The cotton of the shirt held his smell—clean and manly all at once—and she held it to her nose and inhaled deeply before allowing it to fall into place completely over her small frame.

Emily considered watching a movie but quickly made the realization that it would never hold her attention and all she really wanted to do was curl up in bed and forget this whole horrible day.

As her eyes drifted closed, all she could think about was The Fight.

)))

_It had been a really tough case—as if there was ever an easy one. Four children had been kidnapped and they'd gotten there in time to save only two of them from their vicious attacker. It was wearing on everyone, to say the least._

_Emily, for some reason, had felt it even more. There was something so desperate in one of the mother's eyes that Emily had immediately become attached and hadn't been able to let go. She could say with certainty that telling that young woman—LuAnn—that her precious four-year-old son was dead was, hands down, the hardest thing she'd ever done._

_Hotch, like the others, was also affected. Perhaps even more so because of Jack. But that hadn't stopped him from doing his duty as Unit Chief and pulling Prentiss aside. He'd told her as gently as possible that she needed to find some distance after the first time she encountered LuAnn or he was going to have to pull her._

_Now, five days later as they headed for the car in the parking garage after disembarking the plane, Hotch realized that Emily had barely spoken two words to him since that conversation._

_He knew that he'd sounded callous, but he'd seen the way that Emily was looking at the younger brunette woman. He knew that she was instantly attached and he knew, from experience, that that could be dangerous—not only to the case, but to Emily herself. He'd said what he'd said gently and privately, in hopes that Emily would take it to heart but not hold it against him. Apparently it hadn't worked. He'd known that she would be mad at him for a bit, but she was good at putting things behind her and not holding grudges. Usually._

"_How long are you going to be mad at me?" Hotch asked quietly._

_She turned toward him, fire in her eyes. "How long are you gonna be an ass hole?"_

"_Em…I didn't say anything that wasn't true. You know that. I wasn't trying to upset you or say that you're not a fantastic agent. As your superior, I'm obligated to make sure that you can handle the things going on around you," he reminded her. _

"_I'm a supervisory special agent in one of the most reputable units of the FBI, I think I can handle what's going on around me just fine. I think I would know when things get to be too much, don't you?" she challenged._

"_Of course you do," he tried to placate her. "But that doesn't mean that it hurts to have someone looking out for you and making sure. It's my job to make sure that you don't get too attached. That we _all_ don't get too attached."_

"You_? _Get too attached_? Yeah right," she scoffed. "As if you can feel _anything_ except professional curiosity."_

"_What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he stared at her, her anger started to seep into his blood as well._

"_I mean, how could you possibly sit there and not feel for that woman? Her son was missing. How can you blame me for reaching out and trying to make it easier? Sorry for having feelings. I'll try to work on that, try to be more like you," her voice raised in both volume and pitch._

"_Just because I don't get all teary eyed and overly emotional and overly involved doesn't mean I don't have feelings. It just means that I have a grip on how and when to appropriately display them. And yeah, you _should_ work on that, because the way that you reacted to this case and the way that you're reacting now are inappropriate," he growled._

"_You know how to appropriately display emotions? Is that a _joke_? Need I remind you of why your _wife_ divorced you? Wasn't it because you refused to even talk to her? Yeah, I think it was," Emily spat. "I can't even blame her. If you're such a jackass about this, I don't know how she could've been with you for twenty years."_

_Hotch physically recoiled. She had no right to bring up Haley. How could she even think of saying those things?_

"_I don't know how she did it, maybe you should go to her grave and ask her?" he snarled._

_She opened her mouth in horror and started to apologize when he cut her off. Apparently she'd gone too far—scratch that, she _knew_ she'd gone too far and apparently she'd opened the floodgates._

"_And you know what? At least I've been married. It fell apart, yeah, but at least I've proved I can do it. At least I've proved that I can be with someone for more than five minutes. Can you say that? At least I have my son," he continued venomously._

"_If you believe all of that then what are you even doing with me?" she questioned angrily. She couldn't believe he would say the things that had just spewed from his mouth._

"_That's a good question, isn't it? I thought that I was trying to have a mature relationship with you, but apparently not. Maybe you need to reassess things. If you're going to act like this every time I have to be a professional and act as your superior even on something as small as making sure you're not getting too close, if you're going to bring up my _dead wife_, then maybe you should be the one answering that question. What are _you_ even doing with _me_?" his voice was low and dangerous._

_With that, he spun and got into his car, not bothering to look back at her as he drove away._

"_Well screw you!" she yelled after his car uselessly._

)))

Emily watched as the minutes ticked by on her clock. There was no way she was sleeping tonight. Not when she'd lost the best thing in her life.

3:47 am.

She heard something downstairs, but she didn't bother to move. Part of her hoped that it was some vindictive serial killer coming to put her out of her misery.

"Em?" she heard his voice called softly.

Apparently she could sleep, because she was most definitely dreaming.

"Emily?" he called again, this time from her bedroom doorway.

He saw her dark brown eyes staring at him from underneath the comforter and he took a big chance by going over to the bed. He wasn't sure that she wouldn't shoot him, but he was sure that he wouldn't blame her. He absolutely would have deserved it for the things that he'd said to her.

"What are you doing here? I didn't think you'd ever speak to me again," she murmured.

He sighed and slipped into the bed beside her. He pulled her into his arms and was both pleased and terrified that she didn't tense up at all. That either meant that she wasn't mad or that she was just completely over it. Over him.

"I'm so sorry sweetheart. I was completely out of line in everything I said tonight," he apologized immediately.

"No you weren't. You were right. About all of it. Completely and disgustingly right," she disagreed, sounding resigned.

"No. I wasn't. I don't even believe any of the things that I said. I was angry and hurt and wrong to retaliate. I knew that you were hurting and instead of understanding I screwed up. I'm so sorry," he sighed heavily. Her saying that he'd been right made him hate himself even more. His words had been spoken in anger, no because he believed them.

"I'm am too Aaron. I should _never_ have brought up the things that I did. It was wrong. I feel like such a bitch," she admitted, tears falling from her eyes.

"I knew you were upset at me and I pushed it. I was out of line. You were too, but I should have just let it go. Em, I never should have said those things," Hotch whispered against her hair.

"You were just saying what you felt," she excused him.

"Except I wasn't. I don't know why you've never been married. I think that every guy out there is an idiot to have passed you up, but I'm glad they did. I'm so lucky to have you in my life, in Jack's life. You're a good agent and more than that a good _person_," he assured her.

"I started it. I was just so mad at that guy…how could he kill all of those kids? And LuAnn…I don't know what it was, she just struck me for some reason. She didn't deserve this. None of those families did. And then you told me I was too close and I knew it, but I couldn't walk away. I can't believe I said what I did, I'm so so sorry," she told him. She couldn't even bring herself to apologize specifically for bringing up Haley; that had been so far over the line that she would probably never forgive herself. She still wasn't sure that he ever would either. She wouldn't blame him for breaking up with her right now.

"So we both agree that we're really sorry and it was really stupid?" Hotch asked.

"Absolutely. We were just stressed, and tired, and I was emotional," Emily agreed.

"Well, then I think that we should put this behind us and move on," Hotch suggested after a moment.

"Together?" she asked, fearing his answer.

"Yes, of course together. Unless…you don't want to?" his voice faltered slightly.

"No! I mean yes! I mean…of course I want to. I was scared that you'd be so mad that you'd end this thing," Emily admitted.

"Em…we got into a fight. It's part of life and part of relationships. Sure, we took it too far this time, but it happens. I care about you—a lot. I can't just walk away at this point, you're the most important thing in my life, other than Jack," Hotch told her, stroking her cheek with his fingertips.

Emily rolled and buried her face into his neck, placing a light kiss there.

She'd never felt so loved. Sure, he'd never said the words—and she was completely okay with that, she'd never said it either—but it was extremely comforting to know that even when she flew off the handle and was a huge bitch that he'd be there to hold her and comfort her and tell her that it's okay.

"I'm glad you came over…I don't know if I would've gotten up the nerve," Emily whispered.

"That's one of the biggest things that went wrong with my marriage…I never thought anything of going to bed mad or leaving for a trip without a kiss. With you though, I'm not going to make the same mistakes. So how about we agree to never go to bed mad," Hotch requested.

"Agreed. We'll always kiss and make up," Emily agreed instantly.

"Good. Now, we've made up, so how about that kiss?" Hotch probed.

"I think I can oblige," Emily smiled and pressed her lips to his.

* * *

_A/N: Okay, so it was hard for me to write because I hate the idea of them being so horrible to each other. At the same time though, I think that it was sort of realistic because when you're upset, you don't think about what you're saying, you just say what you know will hurt whoever you're fighting with. Also, I was going to make the chapter title "Kiss and Make Up" (as suggested by the lovely kimtom4eva), but since I've been going with single word titles, this is what I went with._

_I'll try to update ASAP, so hopefully within the next week or so. A lot of it depends on if I end up going to Paris for the French Open (I doubt I will though…I hate mono). _

_And thanks SO MUCH to kimtom4eva, I definitely never would've gotten through this chapter if you hadn't read through it, so thank you, thank you, thank you._


	12. L is for Laundry

_A/N: Okay, so one again I've been falling completely behind on my updates. However, I have this chapter and the next one done so don't completely hate me please! ENJOY!_

_Timeline: This chapter takes place in July 2011 so Emily and Hotch have been together for just over a year and living together for about two months. Jack is 5 here._

* * *

_**Chapter 12**_

_**L is for Laundry**_

"Emmy, do you know where my Thomas the Train 'jama pants are? I want to take them to Pen's next time I stay over and Daddy says I have to pack my bag now, just in case," Jack ran into the kitchen to where Emily was taking a tray of cookies out of the oven.

"Did you look in the bottom drawer?" she asked the five-year-old as he leaned over the tray and looked appreciatively at the chocolate chip cookies that were resting there. "Careful, sweetheart, those are really really hot."

Jack took one last longing look at the cookies, but stepped away. "Yeah, I looked in the drawer."

"Where's Daddy?" Emily asked, wanting to get the next tray of cookies in the oven but knowing that she had to help with the pajama pants first.

"He's working. He was on the phone with Uncle Dave when he told me to get my bag ready," Jack reported.

"All right, well go get everything else together and I'll find them, okay?" Emily suggested, deciding that the cookies would wait.

"Okay," he nodded and went back to his room.

Emily and Hotch had found that with both of them on the road at a moment's notice, it was much easier to have ready-bag for Jack as well as their own. That way, a handoff to Penelope or or Jessica or Will's custody was much smoother and there was no doubt that the boy would have everything he needed while they were gone. Plus, it made it easier on Jack when they all packed their bags together, it made it seem less like they were just leaving him behind.

Emily went into the laundry room and sighed when she saw the huge pile of stuff that was waiting to be cleaned.

She turned on the water and figured she may was well throw a load in while she was there.

A pair of Aaron's pants, two pairs of Jack's mini-sized jeans, one dark blue polo, another forest green one, a dark red one, her black sweater, a mini-sized green polo, a blue one, her red turtleneck, her black fleece pullover, a pair of black pants, and about fifty socks later, she shut the washer and began to sift through the clean clothes for Jack's desired pants, folding as she went.

She'd found a routine very quickly when she started doing laundry like this. Sort as you fold—two groups of things, things that stay home and things that are packed into a ready-bag—and put the stacks in very specific places so that there's no confusion. That routine had been adopted when Emily had accidentally grabbed a stack of Aaron's clothes and shoved them into her ready-bag on the run. She'd ended up having to go to a Walmart and wear itchy, poorly fitting clothes for the four days they were gone.

She found the Thomas the Train pants and set them in Jack's pile as she finished the pile of clean clothes.

She loaded the clean, folded clothes into a laundry basket to distribute them to the rooms in which they belonged and was about to shut the light off and leave the room when she glanced back and suddenly was hit with a smile.

It was something so simple, so completely unimportant—laundry—but it showed just how perfect her life had become.

When she lived by herself, she'd done laundry—three loads—once every three weeks. It took about two and a half hours, start to finish, and it was a neat and organized affair. As soon as something was dirty, it went into the hamper, and then on every other Sunday (assuming she was home) it went into the washer, then directly into the dryer, was folded immediately after being dried and put away soon after.

Now, laundry was anything but a neat and organized affair. There was constantly clothes strewn about the house. Jack had the habit of shedding clothes in a trail, instead of just in one place. Anytime the boy was sent to shower, you could track his path by tracing the dropped shirt, then socks, then pants, then cute little Spiderman or Batman underwear.

Surprisingly, Emily had found, this was a habit Jack seemed to have picked up from his father. Aaron was a clean and organized person in every aspect of his life, but for some reason, he never seemed to find the hamper. There was always an undershirt tossed over the chair, pants left in a pile, a tie hanging on the doorknob.

Not that Emily minded picking up after her boys—not in the slightest in fact. It just changed her laundry doing routine drastically from the one she had followed in her solitary life. Now, it was about collecting all of the clothes (invariably she ended up kicking herself for missing something) and leaving it in a massive pile to do a load here or a load there, whenever she found the time.

Standing there in the doorway, looking at the mixture of garments littering the floor, she knew that there was absolutely no competition between which type of laundry that she preferred. She loved the look of all of their things jumbled together—she chuckled lightly at the sight of Jack's bright red SpongeBob shirt nestled between Aaron's pile of dress shirts—because she thought it was a great display of how well their lives had mixed.

Sure, she'd been a little bit scared at first. She'd been pretty deeply ingrained in the Hotchner men's lives prior to officially moving in, but it was different now. Very, very good different she decided. There was nothing quite like waking up every single morning with Aaron's face right next to hers, knowing that Jack was down the hall sleeping peacefully in his Thomas the Train themed bed.

"Em?" a voice pulled her out of her reverie.

She turned and saw Aaron standing there looked a little confused. "Yeah?"

"You okay? Jack said that you were looking for his pants but that he hadn't seen you in awhile…I just wanted to make sure you didn't fall in or something," he appraised her cautiously.

"I just figured I may as well throw a load in, it's building up again. Then I folded everything that was in the dryer, no falling in," Emily grinned.

Hotch reached out and took the basket for her, leaning across it to kiss her lightly on the lips. "Thanks, I've been meaning to do that, but then Dave called and I had to take it."

"Oh really? And what about the other three days that those clothes have been sitting there?" she teased with a smile.

"I'm sorry," he sighed heavily. "I really have been trying to help, I don't want you to have to do everything, I just have been trying to get as much work done as possible and still spend time with Jack."

"It's fine, I don't mind doing it, really. You _should_ be spending time with Jack," she assured him, handing over the basket.

"So you were standing in the door smiling because…you like folding…?" Hotch asked skeptically, returning to the original avenue of conversation.

"Funny," she rolled her eyes and hesitated but decided to admit her real thoughts. She knew she was being sappy, but the worst that could happen is that Aaron would tease her about it, and she didn't really mind that anyway. "I was just thinking about how I like the way all of our clothes look all mixed together like they belong that way."

Hotch grinned, but didn't tease. "That's because they _do_ belong that way."

"Aw, who knew? Aaron Hotchner—closet softy," Emily poked his side.

"Don't spread that around. I'd rather you didn't ruin my bad boy image," he nudged her with his shoulder as they neared Jack's room.

"Yes sir, Agent Hotchner," she chuckled and scooped Jack's belongings out of the basket and entered the room. "Here ya go Buddy, I found your pants. And the shirt that you thought you left at Aunt Jess's."

"Thanks Emmy! Can I have a cookie now?" he asked with a puppy-dog face, one he knew that she could never deny.

"Finished getting your bag ready and then after Daddy checks it, you can have one with a glass of milk, how's that?" Emily suggested.

"Okay," Jack agreed quickly and tucked his pants into his bag.

With that, she went back into the kitchen and spooned out another tray of cookies. She was just sliding them into the oven when Aaron entered with a giggling Jack.

She looked up and saw that Hotch had his son in his arms and was tickling his stomach, causing the cute brown-haired boy to squeal and thrash with laughter.

"I hear you promised this little beast cookies and milk?" Hotch addressed Emily.

"It just so happens that I did. Although, I think that cookies and milk for the little beast's father could probably be arranged as well," Emily nodded, putting a plate with a cookie on the table and pouring a small glass of milk as well.

"Thanks sweetheart," Hotch smiled, placing another gentle kiss on Emily's lips after he set Jack down on the floor.

"Of course," Emily returned the smile and stroked his cheek.

The three of them sat and each ate a cookie with a small glass of milk while Hotch and Emily listened to Jack recount a story about his last trip to the park with his aunt.

"Put your plate in the dishwasher," Emily reminded Jack when he finished his cookie and she cringed as he wiped his chocolate-y face on the sleeve of his white shirt.

"What do you say to Em?" Hotch prompted just as Jack was about to run out of the kitchen.

"Thanks Emmy. You're cookies are way better than Daddy's. Love you," Jack ran back over and smacked a kiss to Emily's cheek before taking off.

"Love you too," Emily called after him with a smile.

Yeah, her new life was a definite improvement over the old one, bad laundry habits and all.

* * *

_A/N: Okay, so like I said, I suck. I'm really sorry for going so long without updating. I have mono, which sucks, but then I ended up going to Paris for the French Open anyway. So, it was really fun, and I wrote this chapter and the next one on the flight home last Sunday night, but then I pretty much slept for the next five days because I was so exhausted. Anyway, I'm really sorry for the delay and I'll put the next chapter up in a couple days, after I hopefully make a little headway on the one after that. Let me know what you think! Oh, and this is un-betaed so let me know if there are any mistakes that hinder the reading and I'll change it._


	13. M is for Mistletoe

_A/N: Okay, so here's the next chapter, as promised. It's sort of like chapter 3 (C is for Competition) in that it has more of a team vibe than just focused on Hotch and Emily. Hope everyone's okay with that. Let me know what you think!_

_Timeline: This chapter takes place in December 2018 (I know, that's really far down the road, but I wanted to try it) so Hotch and Em have been together for 8 1/2 years. Also, for the sake of clarity, Jack is 13, Henry is 11, the twins (Amy and Noah) are 4 1/2, and JJ and Will have another daughter, named Anna who is 3 in this chapter.

* * *

  
_

_**Chapter 13**_

_**M is for Mistletoe**_

Outside of the merrily decorated houses, there was a deep silence. The kind of silence that only falls when accompanied by a heavy snowfall that has recently passed through.

The twenty-two inches of fine white powder was largely undisturbed. Very few cars had attempted to navigate through the elements, leaving the snow in a beautiful, shimmering, white blanket across the yards and street.

Inside one of the houses, it was a completely different story. There was laughter emanating from the living room, crying radiating from one of the upstairs bedrooms, and the clank of dishes coming from the kitchen.

"But Daddyyyyyy," the wail from the upstairs bedroom rang out.

"Anna, I promise, you can go out tomorrow, when you're feeling better. It'll make you sicker if you go out now. You can stay in here and hang out with Mommy and Aunt Em and Aunt Pen," Will bargained with his three-year-old daughter.

The snow had hit much quicker than forecasted the night before, leaving the entire BAU family stranded at the Hotchner's home, where they'd been indulging in eggnog, cookies, a huge dinner, and a large amount of Christmas cheer. The roads had been horrendous, and the plows still had yet to reach the neighborhood the next morning, so for the time being, the house was bursting at the seams with Derek, Spencer, Penelope, Will, JJ, ten-year-old Henry, and three-year-old Anna, not to mention the house's regular occupants, Hotch, Emily, thirteen-year-old Jack, and the four-year-old twins, Amy and Noah. They'd initially been disappointed when Dave couldn't make it, but it was lucky in retrospect because it would have left someone sleeping on the floor with all of the other beds and couches occupied.

"But I want to go outside," Anna sniffled, a tear slipping out of her blue eyes.

"I know you do, sweet pea, but you're just getting over that cold, don't you want to get better?" Will asked.

"No! I want to go outside!" Anna said stubbornly.

Will sighed, not wanting to disappoint his daughter, but knowing that there was no way the little girl could handle the cold weather when she'd been plagued with a stuffy nose and sore throat for the last week.

"MOMMY!" another little girl yelled, running into the kitchen below, a scarf trailing behind her.

"Amy, no yelling," Emily Hotchner reminded her daughter.

"But, Noah took my socks!" Amy burst out in a huff.

"I did not!" Noah argued, following his twin into the room with an obstinate look on his face.

"Yes huh! Mommy said that mine where the green ones and yours were the blue ones! You're wearing the green ones!" Amy retorted.

"Well, why don't you just wear the blue ones?" Emily suggested, not wanting to deal with the bickering. It was stressful enough trying to have seven extra people in the house without the twins getting into a fight.

"Because the green ones are _mine_," Amy stomped her foot.

"Sweetie, they're exactly the same socks, just a different color. The blue ones are just as nice, I swear," Emily attempted to soothe the little girl.

"But the green ones are _MINE_," Amy repeated, getting even angrier.

"Don't you love when they don't get enough sleep," JJ commented, understanding the battle that was going on and knowing that there was likely no solution that wouldn't result in tears from at least one of the kids.

"I know, how about I let you wear my pretty green scarf if you wear the blue socks?" Penelope offered the little girl.

Amy looked at her appraisingly, her dark eyes considering the option. "I can wear your pretty scarf outside?"

"You sure can, princess. But only if you let Noah wear the green socks and you wear the blue ones. You can't wear the scarf _and_ the socks, because the two kinds of green don't match," Penelope explained.

Amy looked at her brother's feet for a moment and then back at Penelope and nodded. "Okay, I want to wear the scarf."

"You're a goddess," Emily thanked her friend. "Aaron!"

"What?" he stuck his head into the kitchen from the living room where he'd been laughing with Derek and the two older boys.

"Can you go get the blue knit socks out of the laundry room for Amy?" Emily requested, stirring the pot of tomato soup on the stove.

"Oh, and be a peach and grab my green scarf out of the closet too," Penelope added.

"Okay, sure," he agreed quickly and left the room.

* * *

"Daddy! Watch!" Noah squealed gleefully as Derek rolled him like a log in the deep snow.

Hotch chuckled at the little boy and glanced over to make sure that Amy was doing okay with Spencer. He was helping her make the perfect snow angel and if the smile gracing her lips was any indication, she was having a great time.

"Dad! Pay attention!" Jack whispered loudly.

Hotch snapped back to attention and saw that Will and Henry were peeking over the large embankment across from them.

"Okay, remember the plan? Throw half and then duck and wait until they retaliate," Hotch reminded Jack.

"Got it. On the count of three?" Jack suggested.

Hotch nodded and stuck up one finger. And then two. And then three. He and Jack both popped up and bombarded Will and Henry's fort.

They ducked back behind their own wall. Hotch held Jack's eye contact and once they heard the other duo start to throw from their own arsenal, Hotch made the signal and both of the Hotchners started to throw again.

"Ah!" Henry got hit in the face with one of Jack's tosses.

"Are you okay?" Jack called across.

"Yeah!" Henry called back.

Hotch and Jack ducked again once they were out of ammunition.

There was a battle cry and before Hotch knew what was happening, Henry was charging across the open area between the two forts. Jack grinned and lunged over the wall, tackling the younger boy playfully. They wrestled and rolled around, laughing and thoroughly covered themselves in the white snow.

"Daddy, Will, help us build a snowman!" Noah called over from where he and Derek had joined forces with Spencer and Amy to construct a new snowy friend.

Soon enough, the older boys had joined in as well and together, the seven worked to build a snowman, laughter ringing out across the yard as they worked.

"Daddy, I got snow in my mitten," Noah wailed suddenly.

Hotch saw that the mitten had fallen off and instead of shaking it out, Noah had shoved his hand right back in, no doubt immersing his hand in a clump of freezing cold water.

"That's no good, come here," Hotch motioned his son over to the snow-covered picnic table off to the side of where the mostly constructed snowman stood.

He pulled the offending mitten back off. "Don't cry buddy, your tears will freeze and make you even colder. We'll fix it."

Noah nodded and tried not to allow the tears to fall from his dark brown eyes as the cold bit at his small hand.

Hotch pulled his own scarf out from his jacket, using the part that was kept dry by his jacket and warm from his body heat to wipe Noah's wet hand. "Okay, Bud, I want you to stick your hand in my sleeve and squeeze my wrist, okay?"

Noah nodded and stuck his hand into his father's jacket and allowed the warmth from Hotch's skin and jacket to warm his hand.

"Jack!" Hotch called over to the oldest boy.

"Yeah?"

"Can you stick your head inside and ask Em to get Noah another glove? This one is all wet on the inside."

Jack nodded and came back two minutes later with a dry mitten in his hand.

Hotch helped Noah get it on and then smiled when the boy looked up at him with a big grin. "All better?"

"Yeah!" Noah hopped up and went to help with the finishing touches on the snowman.

* * *

"Daddy, can I have some milk, please?" Amy asked Hotch as the whole group gathered around the dining room table. There were grilled cheeses and steaming tomato soup all around to go with the fresh hot chocolate for those who had been outside.

"Of course, sweetie," Hotch agreed immediately and went into the kitchen.

He got a pleasant surprise when he saw Emily's lower half sticking out of the pantry. He hadn't even noticed that his wife wasn't at the crowded table.

He came to stand behind her, resting his large hands on her hips. She stood up and turned in his arms. "Hi there," she smiled.

"Hey," he smiled back as her arms automatically came around his neck. "The soup and sandwiches are perfect."

"Good, I'm glad," Emily pulled him toward her and their lips met in a familiar but tantalizing dance. "We should probably go back out there."

"Don't want to," Hotch disagreed and pulled her back to him.

"Aw, come on, you guys. Your kids are sitting like ten feet away, not to mention your daughter wants her milk," Morgan's voice pulled them apart.

Hotch chuckled but kept his arms wrapped around his beautiful wife. "Sorry Morgan, not our fault, it's tradition," he pointed at the ceiling.

Morgan looked up and saw that there was a sprig of mistletoe above his boss and coworker. "You guys put that there on purpose," he rolled his eyes, grabbed the ketchup off of the counter, and backed out of the room.

"Come on," Emily pushed Hotch away after another languorous kiss.

She paused at the doorway and he came up behind her with Amy's milk in hand. "What?"

"Look," she nodded to the room.

He did and saw immediately what had stopped her. In front of them was their family. Derek and JJ were teasing Spencer as he attempted to cut Anna's grilled cheese into six pieces, just the way she liked it. Will was having what looked like a very serious conversation with Noah about the marshmallows in his hot chocolate. Amy was happily dipping her sandwich into her soup and munching on the doused parts. Penelope was shaking her head while Henry laughed uproariously at something Jack was saying.

"I never thought we'd be here. We're so lucky," Emily whispered, her dark brown eyes meeting Hotch's and he could immediately see the joy sparkling there.

"We certainly are…" he agreed to himself as he watched his wife take the milk from him and give it to Amy who looked up with tomato soup dripping down her chin and a huge smile. _We certainly are.

* * *

_

_A/N: So, this is a lot different from what I usually write because I usually don't do well with a lot of different characters at once, but I tried really hard with this. Also, I know in some stories it gets confusing when there's a lot of new characters, so I tried to limit that by really only having three characters of my own invention. Anyway, I really like the team dynamic that they have on the show and I like to think that if they all had kids and stuff, they would still remain close. So let me know what you think! I haven't finished the next chapter yet and my boyfriend broke my laptop so I had to take it to the mac store and they fixed it but now it won't connect to the internet properly (something about a self-assigned ip address? I have no idea what that is), so I'm using a desktop for the next few days and I can't stand the keyboard, but I'll try to have "N is for..." up soon. Thanks for reading!_

_Also, thanks again to kimtom4eva for beta-ing, it's greatly appreciated, you help to make each of these chapters worth posting, so thanks!_

_UPDATE: I just read about the complete and utter bullshit that is the firing of AJ Cook and demotion of Paget Brewster. That is absolutely the most asinine thing I've ever heard! Here's a link for a petition to keep them, please, sign it! The show would absolutely suffer without them and it's completely ridiculous that CBS thinks this is okay! (take the spaces out in the following link)_

www .petitiononline .com /cmwomen /petition .html


	14. N is for Nursery

_A/N: Okay, so I took a little break from this story because I was so angry at CBS, and to be honest, I still am really mad. I've kind of fallen a little bit out of love because of this fact, but yesterday I watched like three or four episodes after not watching it for almost a month, and I was kind of struck. I still love the show, I just hate the situation that CBS has put us in. Anyway, I'll stop rambling and present the next chapter of Alphabet Soup. _

_Timeline: This occurs in March 2014. Emily is about 7 months pregnant with the twins; Jack is 8, Henry is 5, and Hotch/Emily have been married for about five months._

* * *

**_Chapter 14_**

**_N is for Nursery_**

"Thanks again for helping out," Hotch patted Derek on the back. "I definitely wouldn't have been able to get it all done without you guys."

"Of course man, we're almost as excited as you and Em are for these babies to get here," Morgan shook his head, deflecting his boss's praise.

"Well we both appreciate it. We owe you dinner," Hotch smiled.

"I just may take you up on that. Tell Emily I said good night," Morgan grinned and smacked Hotch on the shoulder before turning and heading for his car that was parked in the driveway.

Hotch stood in the door and watched as the other man got into the car and pulled out of the driveway. When the headlights were out of sight, Hotch closed and locked the door and checked the other doors before heading upstairs to collapse in bed next to his wife.

Emily had fallen asleep on the couch earlier in the evening while the men were still at work. Being pregnant with twins was really taking a lot out of her, so Hotch had lifted her into his arms and put her to bed as gently as possible, knowing she wouldn't have agreed to sleep while the team was still there.

When he walked back into their bedroom, however, she wasn't there.

"Em?" he called softly, sticking his head into the en suite bathroom. Not there either.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he walked back into the hallway. She wasn't in Jack's room either—the small boy was spending the night at JJ's with Henry—so he wasn't sure where to look until he noticed the chink of light coming from under the nursery door even though he was sure he'd turned out the lights.

"What are you doing in here? You know the paint fumes are bad for the babies," Hotch commented as he walked into the room and wrapped his arms around her waist, his hands coming to rest on Emily's distended stomach.

"I know, I won't stay in long, I just wanted to look at it," she told him, her fingers interlacing with his.

"It is pretty, isn't it?" Hotch decided not to argue with her, knowing it would just make her mad and he didn't really want to fight with her, even if he was right.

"Mhmm," she hummed. "I love it."

"The guys really did a great job."

"They did. We owe them. You shouldn't have let me fall asleep though," Emily reprimanded him.

"I told Derek we'd get him dinner. And come on, you know it doesn't matter; there wasn't anything you could do in here. You're not supposed to be in here at all until the fumes have completely dissipated," Hotch reminded her.

"Well I could've at least read the directions for assembling the cribs or something," Emily said stubbornly.

"That's what Reid was here for. You don't believe we actually let him assemble something that our children will sleep in, do you?" Hotch kept a straight face.

"After that desk chair he helped assemble for Henry, I should hope not," Emily grinned in spite of her annoyance.

A couple of months back, Spencer had helped Will put together a chair for Henry's desk in his bedroom and they'd all been there to witness the result.

The chair had been brought out for additional seating and Derek had been sitting in it when it collapsed beneath his weight. The shocked look on Derek's face was burned into Emily's mind and never failed to make her chuckle.

"Besides, it was male bonding time," Hotch shrugged.

"Whatever you say, dear," Emily rolled her eyes. She stepped out of his arms and ran her hand across the polished dark wood frame of one of the cribs.

"Admit it, we did a good job," Hotch probed, taking a seat in the rocking chair.

"I already did admit it, but I will again if it'll make you happy. You guys did a fantastic job," Emily told him, stroking his cheek.

He tugged on her arm and she fell into his lap.

She snuggled into her arms but kept her attention on the room. The furniture still was all pushed slightly towards the center of the room because of the paint that wouldn't be set until morning.

Two of the walls had been painted with 8-inch thick alternating pale yellow and pale green stripes with an inch-wide white stripe separating them. One of the other walls was solid green with the fourth wall being solid yellow.

The cribs, rocking chair, chest of drawers, and changing table were all a dark, shiny wood that Emily had chosen because she loved the old-timey fashion of the pieces. The changing table mat, crib sheets, and chair cushion were all soft white cotton with cute yellow ducks scattered across the fabric.

Emily thought it was the perfect baby room. Sure, when they got older, the twins would get their own rooms, but for the first part of their lives, this was perfect and Emily was very thankful that the guys on the team had helped Aaron make it possible.

"These babies are gonna be so lucky," Emily commented quietly as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Yeah," Aaron agreed quietly, squeezing her hand softly.

"I mean…how couldn't they be? They have all these people around them that care about them and would drop everything to spend a day painting their nursery so that it'll be ready when they get here. Not to mention the fantastic father and big brother that they have," Emily continued, sounding somewhat like she was trying to convince herself.

"Don't forget about their mother. She's pretty fantastic as well," Hotch reminded her.

Emily said nothing.

"Em…what's wrong?" Hotch wanted to know.

"Nothing's wrong…I just…I'm a little not so sure that I'm gonna be up to the standards. These babies already have the best father and brother possible, not to mention the coolest, most protective surrogate aunts and uncles possible. I just…I don't know how to be a mother," Emily sighed. She hadn't planned on admitting all of that, but she knew there was no point in trying to hide something from him.

"Emily, come on. You already are a great mother. Jack never would have been such a great kid without you as a mother. He needed you and you delivered. Same way with these babies. They need a mother, a good one, and I have every confidence that you'll be just that for them. You already love them so much, you don't have that far to go to be a great mom," Hotch told her, stroking his face and pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

"It was different with Jack though. You know I love him like he's my own, but I didn't really come into his life until he was older. You know that psychologists say that we start shaping them as people as soon as they are born. I've never done that before and I don't know if I'm cut out for it," Emily further explained.

"Babies are shaped by how much their parents love them. You've already got that down pat. The rest will come because of the love that you feel for them. Of course there's going to be times when you don't know whether they're tired or hungry or need changed, or they just won't stop crying and you have no idea why, but that's like that for all parents. I'm worried about those things too, it comes with the territory though," Hotch soothed her.

"You're worried too?" she asked, sounding like a small child.

"Of course. Obviously I've been there with Jack, but lets face it…I wasn't there near as much as I should've been. I don't want to make the same mistakes this time around. I don't really know the first thing about being a good father either," Hotch admitted.

"Aaron…you're the best father I know, hands down. You're going to be amazing. You already are," Emily told him.

"We're gonna be fine. And don't forget…when they start to drive us crazy, all we have to do is call some of those fantastic surrogate aunts and uncles you were talking about," Hotch chuckled.

"Speaking of…we should probably pick god parents. Most people it's just a formality but with us…you never know what may happen every single time we leave for work," Emily pointed out.

"Yeah…I know. What do you think…one set or two sets?"

"Two. That way, we have twice as many people to strong arm into watching them," Emily grinned mischievously.

Hotch laughed. "Excellent point, dear. Who were you thinking?"

"Well…Jack's are his aunt and uncle, right?" Emily checked and Hotch nodded. "And Spencer and Penelope are Henry's. So…that leaves us JJ, Dave, Derek and Will."

"Why can't we reuse god parents?" Hotch wanted to know.

"We could, but I don't know, I don't want anyone to feel left out. I'm sure it wouldn't really bother them, but I don't want to be the reason that they feel like they aren't good enough, you know? We _are_ going to have to reuse Penelope though…we don't actually hang out with that many girls," Emily explained with a grin at the end.

"Whatever you say. So…lets start with Baby Boy," Hotch agreed.

"Okay, well…godmother is easy. Penelope already has Henry, so I think that she should have Baby Girl and JJ should get Baby Boy," Emily thought aloud.

"That makes sense…and I think that Derek should be with Penelope…so I think Baby Boy should get Dave and JJ and Baby Girl should get Morgan and Garcia," Hotch said.

"Are we sure there isn't too much…subtext there?" Emily asked quietly. She could've been referring to the non-relationship-relationship that Morgan and Garcia had or the whole Dave-JJ Thing, but Hotch knew that she was referring to the latter.

Dave and JJ had never actually happened, but for a while, there had been enough tension to fill the entire country of China. Things were completely fine now, but it was a legitimate concern that they had to consider.

"I think that it'd be okay, to be honest. Maybe a couple of years ago it would've been an issue, but I think things are fine now…don't you? If you think it'll be an issue, we can switch and it'll be Derek and JJ and Dave and Penelope," Hotch answered after a moment.

"No, you're right, it should be fine. Besides, I like the idea of Derek and Penelope being together…if only in god-parentage," Emily grinned.

Hotch grinned back. "So, JJ and Dave for Baby Boy and Derek and Penelope for Baby Girl? It'll be perfect. These kids? They're going to be perfect."

"I hope so…just a heads up, you're going to have to help me out a lot with all of this. If you say I can do it, then I believe I can, but I'm still not going to be able to do it alone," Emily said quietly, burying her face in Hotch's neck.

Hotch's stomach sank. "Em…I swear to God, I'll be here every step of the way. I made mistakes with Jack, I know that…but we're supposed to learn from out mistakes, right? I'll be here. Anything you need, I'll be here. These babies are my top priority, I promise."

"I know, babe, I wasn't questioning that you're devoted to this. I know you're one hundred percent in, I didn't meant to imply I thought otherwise. I just meant that _I _don't know what I'm doing so I'd love to have you holding my hand the whole way," Emily shook her head.

"Well, we've both cleared up that we've got some insecurities, but we both know that it's normal for new parents to feel that way," Hotch reminded her. He didn't want her to freak out because Emily was a stubborn lady, when she got something into her head—even if it's her own insecurities—it's nearly impossible to change her mind.

"I know that, but I never thought that would apply to _us_ though," Emily said, wrinkling her nose.

Hotch rolled his eyes at her and kissed her on the tip of her nose. "We're gonna do great."

Emily took a deep breath and slowly released it. She looked into Aaron's deep brown eyes and found a steadying gaze. "I love you."

"I love you too Em…and these babies," Hotch smiled at her and rubbed her stomach. He gave her a kiss on the lips and then leaned and pressed his lips to her stomach "Hey in there Baby Boy and Baby Girl. Mommy and I are really really excited to meet you and you know…we're gonna make some mistakes. You're probably going to hate us sometimes, but that's normal. I just hope you guys know that we love you guys and Jack more than anything in the entire world and we can't wait to meet you."

Emily stroked his cheek and got off his lap. "Come on…I'm tired, lets go to bed."

* * *

_A/N: Okay, so here it was. I thought that I should show that Hotch and Emily go through all the same doubts that every other new parent goes through, alternating between 'We can do this!' and 'Oh my god...what were we thinking?'. It was sort of ramble-y, I thought, but I just really wanted to break through the writer's block while I could. I'm not sure if this story is going to be put back on hiatus or kept in the front of the shelf that is my mind, only time will tell I suppose. I'm going to try to keep it up though, because I really do like the idea of this story. Anyway, this is un-betaed, so sorry for any mistakes. Please, let me know what you thought!_


	15. O is for Oops

_Timeline: They've been dating for two months, but that is made clear quite a few times. Enjoy.

* * *

_

_**Chapter 15**_

_**O is for Oops**_

"Thank you guys again for your help. We never would have found him without you," the lead detective, Mark Rafter, shook hands with each of them again.

They'd been in Madison, Wisconsin for nearly a week and had finally caught a college student who was killing coeds and storing them in his dorm building's basement.

"Agent Prentiss," Rafter said, halting her progress as the team had turned to walk back to the SUVs to return to the hotel. They had to stay the night and leave early the next morning because the jet had been called away and wouldn't be back until then.

"Yes, Detective Rafter?" she sent JJ a glance before turning to the detective.

"Mark," he corrected.

She raised an eyebrow. He hadn't exactly been covert about his attraction to her throughout the week, but he hadn't gone so far as to be inappropriate. Yet.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me tonight. I know that your team isn't leaving until tomorrow morning, so I thought I could show you around our city. You haven't really had the opportunity to see anything but the station and the university," he proposed.

"I appreciate the offer, _Detective Rafter_, but I'll have to respectfully decline," she smiled tightly at him.

"Come on, I understand that you're working, but I'm sure that boss of yours wouldn't mind if you took a night off, the case is over," Rafter tried to cajole her.

Emily couldn't stop the smirk that played over her lips. That was a laughable thought, Hotch—her boyfriend of two months—not minding if she went out for a romantic dinner and stroll around Madison with a man who had been hitting on her all week. Not likely.

"Okay, you're right, he does seem sort of like a hard ass, but he can't really tell you that you can't go, can he?" Rafter asked, believing her smirk to be about Hotch's demeanor, not their personal relationship.

"I'm flattered, truly, but I am very much in a relationship and am very much taken," she told him, just wanting him to bug off.

"I haven't seen you make one call to a boyfriend the entire time you've been here. I may not be a big fancy profiler, but I know that no calls means something."

Emily was now officially annoyed. Who did this guy think he was? She'd turned him down. Take it with grace, not like an asshole.

"Look, I really am sorry. You're a nice man, but I'm taken. Truly."

"Oh. Okay…sorry," Rafter shrugged.

She shrugged and offered him a slight wave before turning to the awaiting SUV.

Morgan was in the driver's seat and Reid in the backseat, so she got into the passenger seat.

"Hotch and Rossi had to get back for a conference call with Strauss and JJ wanted to get a nap," Morgan told her in explanation as to why the other SUV had left and Hotch hadn't waited for her.

She nodded, not at all bothered by the driving arrangements.

"What did Detective Rafter want?" Reid asked curiously.

"To ask me out and not take no for an answer," Emily admitted.

"He asked you out?" Morgan asked, squinting over at her.

She nodded.

"He's been making sexual advances toward her all week. I'm surprised that he waited this long to actually act on it," Reid said clinically.

"You should go, he was a nice guy," Morgan said.

"I'll pass," Emily bit her lip.

* * *

There was a knock on Emily's hotel room door and she knew it was Hotch. She could always tell it was him by his measured but firm knock.

She checked the peephole and sure enough, Hotch and his patented scowl were on the other side.

"Hey," she greeted him as she let him in.

He walked past her and into the room, turning to face her as she shut and bolted the door.

He had her in his arms within two second of her turning around.

"Morgan told me that Rafter asked you out?"

Emily nodded, enjoying the feel of his hands on her hips, holding her close to him.

"I didn't like the way he was looking at you all week. I knew he wanted you. Not that I begrudge him that, how could someone not want you?" he asked rhetorically.

"It doesn't matter, I shot him down," she told him, stroking his jaw. "You're the only one I want."

"I should kill him," Hotch growled.

"Aaron, who cares?"

"It's unprofessional!" he insisted.

"And this," she motioned at the miniscule amount of space between them, "isn't?"

"So what if it is? You're mine. _Mine_."

He seemed to break at his own words and slammed her against the wall, his lips sealing themselves against her. The miniscule amount of space between them disappeared, not that Emily was complaining. She got a silent thrill out of being claimed as his. She liked being his.

Hotch kissed all of those thoughts—and all other thoughts, for that matter—out of her mind and she was breathless when he pulled away, latching his lips onto the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

She moaned and arched her body against his as his hands snaked beneath the thin cotton of her shirt. His skin was warm and, under his hands and mouth, hers was heating as well.

"Mine," he muttered as he sucked her skin into his mouth again, causing her head to fall back with a crack onto the wall.

* * *

"Em, wake up," Hotch whispered, brushing the brown hair out of her eyes.

"Mmm, no," she grumbled and rolled away from him.

"Emily, come on. We have to get ready," he told her gently, rolling with her so that his body was hovering over hers.

"No," she said again. Her nose wrinkled in the cutest way, making him chuckle, then she pulled the blanket over her face until only her hair was sticking out.

"We'll miss the plane if we don't get up. Don't you want to go see Jack?" he asked.

She peeked out from under the blanket, her dark eyes bleary. "You don't play fair."

"Too bad," he grinned and climbed out of the bed.

She watched his naked form as he proceeded toward the bathroom. She loved how quietly confident he was. Not that he didn't have every right to be—for a forty-two year old man, he was in fantastic shape.

"EMILY!" he shouted above her.

She opened her eyes and saw that she'd fallen back asleep while he was in the shower. She cursed loudly and sprung out of bed, getting dressed and throwing all of her things into her bag in less than ten minutes.

* * *

"You seriously _liked_ that place? The pizza was disgusting," Morgan cringed as he and Reid debated the merit of where they'd eaten dinner the night before.

Emily shook her head at their bickering and chose not to comment on how hungry she was. She and Hotch hadn't exactly found the time to eat the night before and after falling asleep this morning, she'd barely made it to the plane, definitely no time to eat.

She was sitting on the aisle at the table, Morgan to her left, between her and the window. Reid was directly across from her with JJ between him and the window. Aaron had taken a seat on the couch that was facing the table, and was reading over a file with Dave next to him, doing something on his blackberry.

"Girl, what the _hell_ is that?" Morgan stopped mid sentence as he bashed the French fries at the restaurant.

"What?" she looked up, confused.

"_That_," he said reaching out and pressing a finger to her neck.

"Someone had a good night. Rafter?" JJ asked, grinning.

Emily pulled her compact out of her purse and her head almost exploded. There, prominently displayed on her neck was a HUGE bruise, no doubt the result of Hotch's "mine" phase the previous night.

She looked up in shocked. Morgan was looking at her with a leer, Reid was trying—and failing—to restrain his grin, JJ was laughing quietly and shaking her head, and Dave was cocking an eyebrow in her direction.

Sure, she'd showed up with marks like these a time or two since dating Hotch, but she always blamed it on a one-night stand, nothing to write home about. And, thankfully, JJ had given her inadvertently given her an out. She had mentioned Rafter and Emily could easily play it off like she'd changed her mind and gone out with the detective. Until she noticed Hotch, that is.

Hotch as also inspecting the mark. Though anyone else would have thought it was an amused smirk that graced his face, she knew better. She knew that it was a self-satisfied smirk. How unfair!

"YOU!" she yelled at Hotch, forgetting herself and her surroundings to smack him. "You saw me this morning! How did you think it was okay to let me out of the room looking like this!"

Hotch looked over at her, eyebrows raised. His face had a shocked look that she very rarely—if ever—saw.

Her mouth snapped shut and her eyes squeezed closed. Shit. She did _not_ just yell that out loud. She did _not_ just out her and Hotch to the team. Shit.

"_You_," Morgan pointed at Hotch. "Did _that_?" he pointed at Emily's neck.

Hotch opened his mouth but no sound came out.

Emily and Hotch looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do.

"Hotch?" Morgan prompted, still staring down the team leader.

Hotch cleared his throat. "Yeah…uh, Emily and I have been meaning to tell you guys something."

"What? That you suck on her neck hard enough to bruise for fun?" JJ stared.

"Not exactly," Hotch trailed off.

Emily sighed and took the reigns. This was her fault; she should be the one to explain. "Hotch and I have been…seeing each other."

Morgan looked between them rapidly. "_How long?_"

"Two months," she answered.

"_Two months_! You've been hiding this for _two months_?" JJ asked. Emily knew that JJ would be hurt that she hadn't told her, but she knew that she would be happy for them once she got over it.

"We wanted to wait to make sure that it was going to work before we told you," Emily nodded.

"No offense, but we all knew this would happen. Even I can see how well your personalities are matched. Two months and in you guys still aren't sure that it will work out?" Reid commented.

Emily and Hotch shared a glance and he finally spoke. "No…we knew that it would, but after you wait, it just gets harder to tell."

"I can't believe we didn't know!" Morgan groaned.

"You did do remarkably well with hiding your relationship. As far as I know, none of us suspected," Reid complimented them.

"We're profilers just like you are, you know," Hotch reminded them.

"For what it's worth, this doesn't change anything," Emily said, not wanting them to believe that this would change the team dynamic.

"Well, I have to say, it's about damn time," Dave said with a sly grin.

* * *

_A/N: I'm actually already working on the next chapter, so hopefully that will be up sometime soon, but I'm not too sure. I'm just hoping that I can stay on this little roll and keep updating until my inspiration dwindles again. Let me know what you thought!_

_And thanks to kimtom4eva for beta-ing! I truly truly appreciate it, thanks so much, you rock!  
_


	16. P is for Pain

Timeline: It's September 2017. The twins are three, Jack is eleven, and Hotch and Emily have been together for over 7 years.

* * *

_**Chapter Sixteen**_

_**P is for Pain**_

"Emily, I'm fine," Hotch told Emily for the umpteenth time as she wrapped her hand around his forearm as they walked down the tarmac.

"I swear to God, Aaron Hotchner, if you say that one more time, I _will_ hurt you," Emily threatened. "Hurt you more, that is."

Her voice was tense with worry and he chose not to comment, knowing that she was already hanging by a thread.

While they'd been in Kansas City, Missouri, he'd gotten a knife to the right side of his chest and shoulder. Thankfully, the blade had missed everything vital, but it had still resulted in a large number of stitches and a very uncomfortable pain every time he moved.

"Morgan, can you do me a huge favor?" Emily called to the large man a few steps ahead of her and her husband as they entered the building.

"Anything, Mrs. Hotchner," he offered her a cheeky grin, clearly trying to cheer her up and soothe her nerves.

"Can you take Hotch to the house so that I can pick up the kids?" Emily requested.

"Em," Hotch started, but stopped up short at the look that Emily pinned him with. It would've killed even the toughest of UnSubs.

"How about this, you take Hotch straight home and get him settled and I'll pick up the kids and bring them by. That way, you can make sure the Boss Man is settled before the munchkins swarm in," Morgan offered.

"Are you sure you don't mind? We don't want to be a bother," Emily sighed.

"Em, it's no problem. It's only about five minutes out of my way anyway, so it's fine. Plus, I'll just pop in and say hi to Garcia," he assured her.

"You, Derek Morgan, are a God. Thank you," Emily squeezed his arm and kissed him on the cheek.

"I assume I have no say in this?" Hotch grumbled.

"Aaron, _please_," Emily murmured, barely audible.

He looked over at his wife and saw that she was more than a little bothered by the situation. He wanted nothing more than to hug her and tell her it was okay, but he knew that it wasn't okay at work. Sure, they were married and had kids together and everyone knew it, but work was work and they'd agreed that the line was very, very thick and he intended to honor that line.

"All right," Aaron nodded.

"I'll come back and get some work tomorrow, tonight can we please just go home?" Emily asked, her voice shaking lightly.

"Of course, we won't be doing any work tonight anyway," Hotch agreed. He wouldn't have been opposed to reading over some files before he went to sleep, but he knew that Emily would inflict even more physical damage if he so much as suggested it.

Emily put one toe over that thick, thick line of never-ending professionalism when she grabbed his hand in hers, but neither of them said anything about it and both were thankful to have even that small connection as they made their way to the parking garage, slowly and gingerly.

The ride home in Aaron's car was slightly strange due to the fact that Emily was driving and he _always_ drove, but again, neither of them said anything about it as they traced the familiar path to their home.

"Come on, you should get settled in bed before the kids get home," Emily urged.

"I don't think it's necessary…I can just hang out down here on the couch," Hotch insisted.

"No. You're getting in bed and you're staying there. I'm seriously so done arguing with you about this. The doctor said bed rest. That means _resting_ in _bed_, so you're going to do just that and stop with the arguing," Emily put her foot down.

Hotch nodded and allowed her to help him up the stairs gingerly.

He noticed the pained look that crossed her beautiful features when she helped him unbutton the light blue shirt he was wearing and the gashes marring his skin were exposed to her again.

"I don't know what you should wear…I don't think you can get a t-shirt over your head and a button up would be uncomfortable," Emily pointed out after a second.

"It doesn't matter, I don't need a shirt," he shrugged his good shoulder.

"Normally I wouldn't argue," she forced a smile, "But…the kids are gonna be home soon and…" she trailed off.

"Oh, right," he said, realizing that she didn't want their three-year-olds to see his injuries. And, while Jack had seen some of the past battle wounds, he didn't need to see fresh ones as well.

"I know," Emily said and disappeared into the closet. She emerged a minute later with a soft, dark blue plaid flannel shirt in her hands. "At least it'll be softer than a dress shirt."

Getting Hotch into the shirt and helping him change into a pair of sweatpants was quite the struggle and a very slow process to say the least.

Once he was settled back against the pillows, Emily perched on the edge of the bed next to him, her eyes tracing the area of his shirt that was hiding the gauze and stitches. "Em…are you all right?" he asked, taking her hand in his.

She bit her lip, but tears welled up in her eyes. "No," she choked out.

"Sweetheart, come here," he pulled her head down to his good shoulder. She immediately buried her face in the soft cotton and let the tears fall. She wasn't usually a crier, but she couldn't help it.

"Shh…it'll be okay. I'm fine. We're fine," he murmured against her hair as he tried to cradle her against his body as well as he could.

"Yeah, we're fine this time, but what about next time? How many times can we play with fire before one of us gets burned? And not just burned, but incinerated," Emily choked out.

"Em, come on, you can't think like that. If you start believing that something bad's going to happen, it _will_ happen. Stay positive," Hotch tried to soothe her hysteria. Despite his words to the contradiction, he couldn't help but feel the same way as his wife. It felt like they came too close too many times.

"Can you blame me?" Emily asked.

"No, sweetheart, of course I can't. You're right, it does seem like bad things seem to find us sometimes, but you know that's not true. It's part of the job; it is what it is," Hotch sighed.

"Well…then maybe it's time that one or both of us reexamine whether this job is really worth it," Emily said quietly.

Hotch was surprised at this, but he held his tongue until he could evaluate her true feelings on the matter. He took in her face and saw that it was wrought with uncertainty but her eyes held a resigned look. "Well lets not make any rash decisions. Lets give it some time to sink in and then we can talk about it."

Emily nodded and allowed him to brush the stray hair from her face.

"It _will_ be okay, Em. I love you and the kids and now that we've finally got this perfect life together, we'll do whatever it takes to keep that going," he assured her.

"I love you too," she leaned forward and pressed a slightly desperate kiss to his mouth.

"Mommy!" Amy's voice broke into their moment. She was perched on one of Derek Morgan's arms in the doorway; Noah was on the other, grinning widely at being home with his parents.

Emily pulled away from Hotch and quickly wiped the tear tracks from her face. She knew that her eyes would be red and Morgan would definitely notice, but hopefully the kids would be too excited to see them to see that Mommy had been crying.

Jack came toward her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I missed you Emmy."

"I missed you too buddy," she kissed him on the temple.

Morgan passed Noah to Emily but kept Amy in his arms until Emily and Hotch could explain that they'd have to be careful.

"Okay guys, now everything's okay, but Daddy got a little bit of a boo-boo while we were away. So, remember when I hurt my shoulder last year?" Emily started.

Noah and Amy both nodded and Jack just stared at his father, but Emily had no doubt he understood. He'd seen way more in his eleven years than most people saw in a lifetime.

"Well, we had to be careful, right? Well now we have to be careful around Daddy for a little while, okay?" Emily explained to the twins.

"Can we still hug him?" Amy looked worried from Morgan's arms.

"Of course, baby, you just have to hug him gently, instead of those big strong hugs you usually give," Emily nodded, trying to sound enthusiastic.

Emily helped the twins each hug their father and agreed that the kids could sit on the bed and hang out with Aaron for a while.

She watched Jack help them get settled on the king-sized mattress before she nodded for Derek to follow her downstairs.

"You okay?" he asked her immediately after he agreed to a cup of coffee and joined her in the kitchen.

"No, not really," Emily sighed. She knew that it was useless to lie to him; the man _was _a profiler, after all.

"Do you want to talk about it, or should I just butt out?" Morgan asked and Emily could tell by the earnest look in his eyes that if she said she didn't want to talk, he'd let it go.

"Do you think that Hotch and I are doing the wrong thing?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Morgan looked somewhat surprised at this.

"By staying at the BAU even though we are continually are putting our lives in danger? I mean what happens to the kids if something happens to one of us? To _both_ of us? Jack's already lost one parent, he shouldn't have to go through that again," Emily aired her worries.

"Em, I can't sit here and tell you that there's no possibility of something bad happening, because we know that there is every single time we get on that plane and take a new case. But you guys are strong, and you will be even if something _does_ happen. I know that, God forbid, if one of you was gone, the other one would be there for those kids. Not to mention that all of us would be there to help every step of the way," Morgan tried to soothe her.

She nodded silently, her eyes refilling with tears. "Derek…I don't think I could do it without him," she admitted.

"Oh come on, Emily," Derek put his coffee cup down and pulled Emily into a hug. "You are a great mother and you love those kids more than anything else in the whole world. Of course it would be hard without Aaron, but don't for a second believe that you couldn't do it. Because you could and you would if it was necessary."

"You really think that?"

"Absolutely," Morgan nodded.

Emily took a deep breath and pulled away from him. "Thanks Derek. I'm sorry to say anything. I never go to pieces."

"I know you don't, which means that you need someone when you do, so here I am to be your someone today," Morgan assured her.

"Emily?"

The pair turned to the doorway and saw Jack standing there unsurely. They both saw the serious look on the boy's face.

"I'm gonna head out. Em, call me if you need _anything_. Jack, my man, hang in there," Derek hugged Emily and ruffled Jack's hair before he left.

"You okay, bud?" Emily sat down at the kitchen table and motioned for him to do the same.

Jack shrugged.

"What's wrong?"

"Is my dad gonna be okay?" Jack wanted to know.

"Yes, of course he is. I promise," Emily nodded reassuringly. She may be worried, but Jack didn't need to see her uncertainty.

"Then how come you were crying when we got home?"

"I just get scared when Daddy gets hurt. Not because he's not going to be okay, just because I don't like to see him in pain. I don't like to see any of you hurt either," Emily explained to the boy.

"You're sure he's going to be okay?"

"As far as I know, yes," Emily nodded. She hesitated, but continued after a moment. "Jack, you know as well as anyone that sometimes bad things happen to good people, but no matter what, your dad and I will do everything we possibly can to always be there for you."

"Thanks Emmy," Jack got up off his chair and hugged her tightly.

"I love you, bud."

"I love you too," he whispered into her neck.

"Come on, lets go upstairs with Dad and the twins," Emily suggested.

Jack nodded and together they went up to the bedroom.

Emily's heart warmed and she instantly felt somewhat better when she saw the twins sitting on Aaron's good side, giggling happily.

"Got room for two more?" Emily smiled as the rest of her family looked over.

"Yeah, I think we could make some space," Aaron grinned.

Jack clambered onto the bed next to his little brother and sister and Emily sat carefully on her husband's bad side. She wrapped her arm up around his shoulders lightly, just wanting to be close to him.

"I love you," she whispered against his ear and kissed him on the cheek.

He offered her a brilliant smile as he continued to listen to Noah talking.

Emily gave a somewhat satisfied sigh. Maybe they would be okay after all.

* * *

_A/N: Hey guys, I'm so sorry that this took so long. Moving back to school and changing my major and just getting everything straightened out really kept me busy recently. But anyway, here's the next chapter of this (not so little) little tale. I kind of liked the dynamic here. I like fluff, but I just felt that this conversation would come up eventually, so I hope that I did an okay job portraying how it would play out. Thanks so much for reading and please let me know what you thought! Also, I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with something for "Q"...anyone have any good words?_

_PS-**BIG **shout out to kimtom4eva, thanks so much for reading over this! You totally rock, it wouldn't have been the same quality without you!  
_


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